HSM's The Princess and the Frog
by general wildcat
Summary: "Just...one kiss?" she asked, though a bit hesitantly. "Just one. Unless you beg for more." the frog grinned. One kiss - that's all it took. One kiss for the adventure of a lifetime. Rated T for safety. Hiatus
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Princess and the Frog, High School Musical, and all if their songs, characters, plots, and so on belong to Disney.

**And now our feature presentation.**

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><p><em>The evening star is shining bright<em>

_So make a wish and hold on tight_

_There's magic in the air tonight_

_And anything can happen_

This isn't your typical love story that starts with 'once upon a time'. It's not about a peasant girl who gets swept off her feet by a prince or takes place in a far away land some long, long time ago. This may not be the fairy tale everyone expects it to be but it does start with the humblest of beginnings. It all started in New Orleans, Louisiana with a young girl.

"And then sad little frog looked up with his big brown eyes and said, 'oh please dear princess, only a kiss from you can break this terrible spell that was inflicted on me.'"

Two young girls listened very intently to the fascinating story of the Frog Prince. In New Orleans many people were famous for producing products such as sugar and cotton and were quit rich for it. No different was the life of Sharpay, whose older brother had taken over their cotton empire after their parents' passing. They lived in perhaps one of the biggest mansions New Orleans had ever seen. Not only was their family so well known and respected for the work and treatment of all their employees, but sometimes Sharpay's brother would just live life as though he were a normal person and not a wealthy man. Sharpay was the one who always tried to get everything she wanted and could always be seen anywhere in pink and with her pale complexion and bright blond hair even at such a young age it was almost questionable if anyone could surpass the young heiress' beauty. But that's not who our story focuses on.

Taylor had grown up with Sharpay; they'd known each other since they were babies and now, even at the age of nine and of completely different races in an otherwise sensitive south, they were the best of friends. Taylor's look completely contrasted Sharpay's; her skin was a deep cocoa and matched her slight curly brown hair and her attire was always simple and plain that would otherwise be accessorized with a little paper tiara for a princess story. Taylor's older sister Gabriella had worked for the Evans' family, and was especially known for making princess dresses for Sharpay. And while her friend lived life as though she really were a princess, Taylor was the more level headed one. She knew what she wanted to do when she got bigger and she knew what was just outside of the mansions.

"Here comes my favorite part." Sharpay whispered to Taylor excitedly, gripping her fuzzy white cat even tighter.

As Gabriella continued reading, she went about putting the final touches on Sharpay's dress which was nothing more than perfecting a big pink ribbon. "And the beautiful princess was so moved by his desperate plea that she sat down, picked up the slippery creature…leaned forward…raised him to her lips…" She took a dramatic pause watching the looks on the girls' faces – Sharpay's grin growing by the second and Taylor shaking her head in disgust with a fact to match – before turning the page. "…and kissed that little frog!"

"AW!" Sharpay cooed, hugging her little kitten even tighter in her arms.

"Yuck!" Taylor gasped, almost ready to gag at the mere thought.

"Then the frog was transformed into a handsome prince. They were married and hey both lived happily ever after. The end." Gabriella finished with a smile as she cut the last bit of Sharpay's new ribbon.

"YAY!" Sharpay cheered, falling over in her overly poufy dress. Clapping her hands and giggling like a school girl she begged, "Read it again! Read it again!"

Even though Sharpay was such a spoiled little girlie girl, she was nothing short of a hopeless romantic. Every time Gabriella or anyone else read that story, Sharpay was insistent that one day she would meet a prince, get married to him, and live happily ever after in a castle. And if that wouldn't happen there was no doubt her brother would pay someone to do it.

"Sorry Sharpay, but it's about time Tay and I headed home." Gabriella giggled as she helped Sharpay up and tied the new ribbon around her hot pink party dress. "Say good night, Taylor." She added as she gathered her things.

Taylor folded her arms and shook her head. "There is no way in this whole wide world I would ever, ever, ever, ever, ever and I mean never kiss a frog!"

"Is that right?" Sharpay smirked, putting her hands behind her back. She eyed the kitten who was contently grooming itself, then grabbed a little sewed frog costume from behind her back and put it right on the cat, taking him by surprise, and scooping him up, holding him to Taylor's face. "Well here's your Prince Charming! Go ahead, pucker up and kiss him!"

"No!" Taylor laughed, trying to push the cat off.

"Do it!"

"No!"

"You know you wanna, he's a prince!"

"I'm not kissing any frogs! Kiss him yourself!"

Sharpay giggled as she fell to the ground and sat back up. "I would do it!"

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "You would? But frogs are so…ech."

"I don't care, I'd still do it! I would kiss a hundred frogs if I could meet and marry a prince and be a princess!" she exclaimed. Sighing dreamily thinking about it, the blonde then planted a big smooch on the cat's cheek. Then, being taken by surprise, the cat yelped and jumped out of Sharpay's arms and onto the ceiling, its claws digging deep as to not be pulled down and deal with such torture. But the girls didn't find it as such; they just collapsed back down and started laughing uncontrollably.

"That was some kiss alright, Shar!" Taylor laughed.

Gabriella shook her head and moved a chair over to get the cat. "You two stop tormenting that poor kitty." She climbed onto the chair and pulled the cat down from the ceiling and removed the frog costume, only to see the frightened cat crawl as fast out of the room as he possible could.

Moments later, Sharpay's bedroom door opened only to reveal her brother Ryan. He wasn't too much older, just around the same age as Gabriella. Although still quite young he was very responsible for his age, albeit easily getting distracted and sometimes thinking more about food or dance than work. But that didn't mean he couldn't put on an act and be all business when he needed to; after all, good acting did run in their family. And luckily with this family, Ryan never needed to be all business which he was much thankful for. He removed his flashy white hat, revealing short hair just as blond as Sharpay's, and with his white and pink attire it was no doubt that the two of them were brother and sister. "Hey there everyone." He greeted with a bright smile on his face.

"Ryan, check out my new dress!" Sharpay smiled, running to her brother. "Isn't it pretty?"

"Of course it is." Ryan chuckled. He nodded to Gabriella, "Nothing but the best from the best seamstress in New Orleans."

"It's only a living." Gabriella shrugged her shoulders modestly.

Sharpay's eyes lit up as she looked at the last page on the book with the princess and prince; the princess' dress was the longest, prettiest, pinkest one she had ever seen in her whole life. "Ry! Ry! I want that dress!" she exclaimed, pointing to it.

"Shar, I really don't think…" Ryan started.

"I want that one!" she repeated.

"But I thought it was my turn to get a new hat. They have one shaped like a melon now and…" Ryan tried.

Sharpay tugged hard on his jacket, "I want it! I want that dress! Please, please, please, please, please!"

"Gabriella…" Ryan squeaked as he tried hard to keep his balance against his much stronger younger sister, "…is it possible…you could maybe possible…do something about that…before she kills me?" No later did he finish that question did Sharpay knock him down right to the ground.

Gabriella giggled and nodded before eyeing the room full of dresses that Gabriella had made for Sharpay in the past year. "Anything for my best customer."

"Yay!" Sharpay cheered again, almost as though it was the only word she knew.

Gabriella signaled for Taylor to follow her. "Let's go, Tay. I think Dad should be home from work by now."

Ryan shook his head and sat up. "Alright Shar, so it looks like you'll get another new dress. But that's all I can give you now alright? No more for a while." He watched his sister's look fade away before he pulled out a puppy from almost out of nowhere, "Now who wants a puppy?"

"I do, I do!" Sharpay squealed over the little barking animal.

Taylor looked behind her as she and Gabriella headed out of the mansion. She could hear almost everything they were saying, even as their voices faded as they walked out and got on the bus to go home. It wasn't that Taylor felt like she had so much less compared to her friend, or that she was so unfortunate. But even as a child, Taylor could tell how easily things got handed to Sharpay. Anything she wanted, Sharpay got it. Watching her father and sister work so much, Taylor was observant enough to know that if she would want something, she would have to work for it. Perhaps it would be far more satisfying to earn something instead of just getting it on a silver platter. Sitting at the window seat in the back of the bus, Taylor watched as they drove by each house. In Sharpay's neck of the woods the homes were all big and fancy, even almost castle-like to a nine year old. And as the bus ride grew longer and they got to a more desolate part of the neighborhood, the houses were much smaller and closer together. The homes must have only been able to fit two or three people and yet some of the families had so many more. People would be sitting outside or have their lights off as though they were waiting for something. And even as an intuitive little girl, Taylor knew exactly what they were waiting for – a better life. But to Taylor it didn't matter where they lived or what life brought them. As long as she had her family and goals to accomplish, everything would be alright.

"That gumbo sure smells good, Taylor."

Taylor looked up at her father as she continued stirring the gumbo she was currently making. Taylor's father James was the one who taught her everything she knew about cooking. Every one of his recipes, every one of his secrets, Taylor knew and was planning on mastering them. James was such a great chef and had always dreamed of opening his own restaurant. But times were tough and sometimes it could be difficult for anyone to get a job, no matter what their race. But James, he worked so much more than anyone else. Though he never showed it, he could work as many shifts as three in one day. James was a tall man, though a bit out of shape, with hair the same shade as Gabriella's and Taylor's big brown eyes. Although James may have looked like the perfect combination of Taylor and Gabriella, the sisters looked almost nothing alike. Gabriella's skin tone was much lighter and her hair was a little lighter and wavier. James had met his first wife, Gabriella's mother, some years ago. When Gabriella was only a few years old her mother left, leaving James to raise Gabriella on his own for most of her life. It was shortly after that, that James had met Taylor's mother; but she hadn't been able to stick around either, because she had died shortly after Taylor was born. And although Gabriella was just in her early teens and spent most of her time working as a seamstress, she didn't mind it at all. It was a way to help make a living for her family and especially working so well with Ryan and Sharpay, her chances of getting a better job in the future would be much greater.

"I think it's done, Daddy." Taylor responded.

"Are you sure?" James asked with a smile.

"Yes." Taylor nodded proudly.

"Absolutely positive?" he inquired.

"Uh-huh." She smiled.

James grinned and picked up the spoonful of gumbo. "Alright then, if you're sure. I'm just gonna go ahead and put this in my…"

"Wait!" Taylor gasped just before the spoon could touch his lips. She snatched the spoon and added a little tobacco into the mix and stirred it for a few seconds, then took a slurp of it herself. She smiled and nodded after letting the taste settle. "Ok, it's done now." She took a fresh spoonful and let her father taste it. She watched as he got a serious thinking look on his face. Taylor became concerned, wondering if her cooking wasn't good enough. "How it is?"

"Well sweetheart, I don't know how to tell you this…" James said, rubbing his chin. He then smiled and picked her up. "But this is just about the best gumbo I ever tasted!"

"Is it really?" Gabriella asked, leaving her sewing machine and going over.

"Gabs, you have got to try this." James smiled. "I sweat I think I've got the two most gifted daughters in the world. Smart and creative, and smart and a natural born chef."

Gabriella giggled. "Well if there's one thing I know about gifts, they have to be shared. Bring them out to the neighbors; we can all have some gumbo."

Taylor smiled and took the pan; she ran out the door and stood on the front porch, barely even have to yell to get anyone's attention. "Hey everyone, I made gumbo!" With those words and the scent of such a delectable meal, everyone came gathering around and had all the gumbo they could eat. Watching everyone enjoy her gumbo so much, it was obvious that Taylor knew she wanted to bring that kind of joy to the world. Even her father could see that as he put her to bed a couple of hours later.

"You know, the thing about food is that it brings people together." James explained, sitting at her bedside. "It warms them right up and puts bright smiles on their faces. It's that kind of joy that every artist – painter, writer, chef, anyone really – looks for on peoples' faces. That's all anybody wants to do with their lives, because they don't need any fame, fortune, or material possessions to find happiness. Seeing the smiles and warm feeling on everyone's faces is all anyone needs to be happy. And when I finally open my own restaurant, people are gonna come around from miles, cities, all over the world just to get a taste of my food." He showed a magazine clipping to Taylor, just a faint idea of what he wanted his restaurant to look like. James may have known his chances of accomplishing that dream were slim, but they couldn't stop him from dreaming. He could see it all now – bright colors, chandeliers, smiling faces. He wanted his restaurant to bring the warm feeling that his food would bring and the same warm feeling he would get from watching people enjoy it.

Taylor smiled and looked up at her dad. "Our food." She corrected.

James chuckled and nodded. Of course it was their food; he had taught Taylor everything she knew about cooking, and even added some of her own things to a couple of his recipes. No, it was no longer James' food; from the moment he watched Taylor master his first recipe only some years back, it became their food. "That's right, baby girl. Our food." He smiled. And picking up a pen, he wrote in big capital letters at the top corner of the clipping, 'Taylor's Palace'. With all the confidence he had in his daughter, it couldn't just be any place; the name would need a big word to attract attention and show everyone just with words how great their food was.

Taylor hugged the clipping close to her with a big smile on her face. She looked towards the window and crawled over to it. "Hey, look at that star out there!" she pointed. "Sharpay's fairy tale book says that if you wish on a star your dreams will come true."

Gabriella climbed over and looked up at the star. "You should wish on that star. I know I do every night I see one."

James couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "Gabriella you're such a hopeless romantic."

"Oh Dad, I know I am. And I know I work hard every day, but there's nothing wrong with dreaming. Besides if I do enough good then something good will happen in return." She said.

"If a star can really do all that, I'm definitely gonna make a wish on that." Taylor replied.

"And you should. Both of you should follow your dreams and wish on these stars with all your little hearts." Their father encouraged. "But you just gotta remember one important thing. That little star can only take you part of the way. It can't do all the work on its own, you gotta do some of it, too. As long as you put in a lot of hard work and keep your dreams in mind, then you can accomplish just about anything." He sat between his two girls and wrapped his arms around them. "You two understand?"

"I do, Dad." Gabriella nodded. "If it's for my dreams, I'll work as hard as I can. For me and for everyone I care about."

"I think I understand." Taylor said. "If I wish on the star and keep practicing and work hard, I can help open the restaurant for all of us."

"Of course you can." James nodded. "But you both just gotta promise your daddy one thing. That you will never, ever lose sight of what's really important."

Gabriella smiled and hugged her father. "Of course, Dad. I'll never forget."

Taylor nodded as well; but as smart as she was for her age, that didn't mean she understood everything. And even at such a tender age she couldn't have been expected to know what was really important.

"Alright then, it's just about time you went to bed." James told Taylor as he got off her bed. "You too, Gabriella."

"Ok." Gabriella nodded. She hugged Taylor and kissed her dad's cheek. "Good night."

"Good night, Gabs." James then tucked Taylor in and turned out her light, kissing her forehead. "Sweet dreams, Taylor."

Taylor closed her eyes, pretending to fall asleep as her father and sister left her room. But as soon as she heard the door close, her eyes shot opened and she crawled back over to the window. She looked up at the star shining so brightly in the night sky, then at the magazine clipping, then back at the star. Hugging it close to her once again, she closed her eyes and whispered, "Please, please, please, please…" She took a deep breath and then looked up at the star, as though in her childish fantasy she was expecting something to happen. But something did happen. A little frog hopped onto her window sill and just stared at her. Taylor flinched at the frog's sudden appearance, but it didn't do anything. She stared at the creature, watching it intently look at her with big, buggy, yellow eyes. And all of a sudden, it ribbitted loudly, causing Taylor to scream and run out of her room and, in response, the frog to hop away. One thing was for sure, after that night, there was no way for sure that Taylor would ever kiss a frog.

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><p>And at long last, after typing what I would put at the bottom here and am now reforced to type because of 'this page cannot be displayed', chapter one is completed! Sorry as usual it toko me so long to get this up. One of the reasons is the same as usual which is my being lazydistracted. The other reason is because for the last two weeks there were a couple of family emergencies but there's nothing to worry about now, everything is all good, no one died, and we're all still in one piece. So that's a relief. And more good news, I'm officially done with school until late August/early September (with awesome grades for the semester, by the way. BOO-YEAH!). So unless I have absolutely no luck finding a job for the summer my time will be going to starting (or thinking of) my idea for my senior thesis for graphic design, roleplaying, friends, and if I'm smart enough, fanfictions. And in an effort to babble less than I did when I originally typed and lost this bottom a/n, time to use a few sentences to talk about the story. Obviously, James is taken from the James in Princess and the Frog. I mean, why not name the father after the one in the movie? It's simple and non time consuming. I decided to make Ryan Big Daddy instead of his and Sharpay's dad Vance Evans. I mean, c'mon can anyone see him as big daddy? I kinda couldn't. Besides, Ryan is more fun to write. XD And I'm sure you all saw Sharpay as Charolette coming, so no explanation needed there. As for Gabriella, I went with making her Taylor's older sister instead of creating a mom character. I wasn't all too sure what to do with Gabriella at first and they are practically like sisters any way and...I forgot what else I wrote about that. Oops. And yes, I know everyone is a few years apart. But if they can be fish, crabs, or mice in other stories then they can be a couple of years apart here, too. XD And now that only leaves on issue left. Drum roll, please. -Drum Roll- The name of Prince Chad's kingdom! Ok, I know you all knew Chad was the prince here. Now I'm pretty sure I can't steal Maldonia from Disney and uite frankly I kinda don't want to. So that leaves me in kind of a writer's block for coming up with a kingdom name. So I want to know what you guys think of a name. Any ideas you have would be awesome. The one thing that I do know about it, is that it should be Italian sounding or have something to do with Italy...cause, last I checked I'm pretty sure Corbin's part Italian so in that way it kinda makes sense. And the name of the kingdom will be announced in chapter three...chapter three? Is that what I wrote down in my notebook while planning out the story in its entirety? I think so. Chapter three will be when the name of the kingdom will be mentioned! So, review as you please and thank you for being so patient with waiting for my story that you probably all didn't have the patience for to begin with. XD So until chapter two, which should hopefully be within the week, happy summer and good night everyone! (=


	2. Down in New Orleans

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything**

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><p>Nineteen year old Taylor yawned as she quietly made her way into the house, careful not to wake Gabriella. It had been a long, rough night working at one of the restaurants, Ron's, but it was all going to a good cause. Ever since Taylor's father passed away, she made a promise to make their dream come true. She has worked as much as she could to save up and afford to buy an old run down shack which she was planning on turning into the restaurant she and her dad had always dreamed of. Groaning as she went through her apron to remove the tips, she walked into her room and opened one of her dresser drawers which revealed numerous soda cans all pilled to the top of with bills and coins. Taylor briefly counted what she had collected from her night's work and added it to one of the cans. It was no more than two dollars, but she was going to take whatever she could get.<p>

"Another rough night for tips, Taylor. But every penny counts." She sighed to herself, closing the drawer. Reaching back into her apron, she removed the magazine clipping she had saved from so many years ago that her father showed her, the idea of their dream restaurant. She set it up next to a picture of her father and placed a soft kiss on the photo. Taylor didn't want to spend her days working for other restaurants and serving people food; she wanted to spend them making food for people to enjoy and watch their reactions as they tasted it over and over again. And although she had no intention of working this much, she was doing this for her father and she was going to make him proud. "We're almost there, Dad."

Even though Taylor did spend almost all of her time working, her room was filled with almost nothing but books. Books for recipes, science, politics, and such covered the desk and floor. And although she had easily taught herself about those subjects and many others, the majority of her time was still devoted to working. Taylor had grown into a strong, hard-working woman with high standards and goals for herself. And in becoming such a down to earth and logical person, there was no time for daydreaming.

In fact, there was almost no time for sleeping either. Some nights Taylor would get more sleep than others, but this was not one of those nights. Or, in this case, mornings. She collapsed onto her bed and began to fall out, but no more than five minutes later did her alarm clock go off. It was just after six a.m. and she had more work to do. Taylor knocked the clock off of her nightstand and climbed off her bed. Heading to her closet, she removed her apron and pulled out a different waitress uniform. It was just another day in New Orleans.

"Good night Ron's, good morning John's." she said to herself before changing uniforms and wishing Gabriella, who had just woken up, a good morning before running out of the house and catching the trolley back into town.

_In the South Land there's a city_

_Way down on the river_

_Where the women are very pretty_

_And all the men deliver_

Even so early in the morning, the city of New Orleans was already buzzing with excitement. People greeted each other as they traveled to work and street performers played jazz music for everyone to hear and enjoy. But on the trolley, Taylor's eyes were in one of her recipe books. She didn't even watch as one of the guys sitting next to her tried hitting on her; as soon as the trolley stopped where she needed to go, Taylor was off and heading towards John's diner for the breakfast rush.

_They got music_

_It's always playing_

_Start in the daytime, go all through the night_

Taylor watched as some of the musicians passed her by, happily playing their music for all to hear. Yet Taylor was more concerned about getting to work on time than enjoying herself. She ducked under someone playing the trombone and narrowly avoided another trying to dance with her before making it to the diner.

_When you hear that music playin'_

_Hear what I'm saying, it make you feel alright_

_Grab somebody, come on down_

_Bring your paintbrush, we're painting the town_

Already starting her job as soon as she clocked in, Taylor went about contently serving the customers their eggs or pancakes for breakfast. Their faces quickly lit up, ready to dig in and start their day. She went back to get the next batch and added the seasoning as the chef began preparing the next small dish. Not only was Taylor able to pour honey and sprinkle the perfect amount of salt or sugar on, but she was nearly able to do it all without looking.

_Oh there's some sweetness goin' 'round_

_Catch it down in New Orleans_

Taylor served the food to a grumpy army man, yet as soon as he took a bite of it a smile grew on his face and he happily saluted Taylor, who returned the salute back. Then being tapped on the shoulder, the chef tossed numerous plates of food at her to serve. Nope, there was not even a second to relax on the job.

_We got magic, good and bad_

_Make you happy or make you real sad_

In the meantime on the streets, the performers weren't the only ones garnering attention. At one of the corners a young blond woman was performing magic tricks. She had caught the attention of a snazzy dressed young man; he watched as she performed a card trick and then took out a new deck to tell his fortune with, offering to see into his future. The man politely tipped his hat, though refusing to hear any magic mumbo jumbo. His face turned bright red and he looked utterly embarrassed as he revealed himself to be a bald man. The blond grinned, knowing just what he wanted. With a bit of smoke and in the blink of an eye she was able to give the man just what he wanted, a full head of hair.

_Get everything you want, lose what you had_

_Down here in New Orleans_

Down the street, the man attempted to pick up an attractive young lady with his new hair. But the moment she looked at him the hair spread around his body, practically giving him the appearance of a creature like Big Foot. Screaming, she hit him with her pocketbook and he scurried away. He leaned up against a glass window and sighed with relief, though wondering what had happened to cause her reaction. And when he looked at his reflection, he screamed himself seeing what the voo doo magic had done to him. That was the work of the Shadow Woman.

_Hey partner, don't be shy_

_Come on down here and give us a try_

The blond peeked from around the corner and smirked as she tossed the coin she received from him into her jacket. Although a young woman, not even in her twenty's, this Shadow Woman, lesser known as Tiara, was not one to be taken as a fool. While she was a prodigy for knowing magic and telling fortunes, there was much more to her than a talented girl. For her shadow had moved on its own and pointed her to a passing car; Ryan was receiving the morning paper from a little paperboy and paid him quite handsomely. Tiara scoffed as she watched him continue on down the street; money had been handed to that man so easily and others such as her had to work hard to earn it and be misunderstood as some fortune teller. However her shadow seemed to have more brains than that; as thought were its own person, her shadow removed the coin from Tiara's pocket and placed it into her hand. Tiara looked at her shadow with a quirked eyebrow and then smirked; there was going to be quite some work at hand today.

_You wanna do some livin' before you die_

_Do it down in New Orleans_

As Ryan read the newspaper, the news was officially arriving in the city. Prince Chad of a faraway country was entering New Orleans on his own personal ship. Chad grinned as photographers lined up to take his photo even before he set foot on the dock. He was nothing short of a hot looking man; dark brown locks flowed from his head matching his cocoa skin, his deep brown eyes shined in the daylight, and even under his princely attire he was incredibly fit. But Chad wasn't in town on business or anything of the sort. He was only there for one thing – fun. Ripping off his fancy wear and revealing a casual t-shirt and pants, he pulled out a small guitar and slid onto the dock, playing a little tune for some of the girls nearby as they fawned over him.

"So good to see you ladies," he greeted in a faint Italian accent, "I know, I'm good looking. Let me play a little something just for you." He started playing his guitar a bit, then looked up as some of the jazz performers passed by. "Let us join the party, shall we girls?" he grinned, continuing to play as he followed them down the street with the girls close behind.

Yes, Chad was a bit of a stuck-up guy, but what else was there to expect from someone of royalty? His assistant and best friend Troy seemed to have the idea. Just as fit and good looking as Chad, it was his stunning blue eyes that could catch the attention of everyone if only he were the prince. And while Troy did enjoy traveling with his friend and serving him in any way he could, there would always be a faint hint of jealousy. That and the fact that he was always the one to carry Chad's many bags. As he caught the attention of one girl on her way to fawning over Chad, Troy waved to her yet ended up tripping and falling right onto the dock and dropping his friend's luggage. Troy sighed and shook his head; it was nothing he wasn't used to. There was always one bright side to carrying so much stuff – it was a great workout.

_Stately homes and mansions_

_Of the Sugar Barons and the Cotton Kings_

It wasn't just the girls at the dock or anyone reading the paper who knew about Chad; Ryan had known about it for some time now and had something set up for the visiting prince. And it was all a surprise for his sister Sharpay. As his car pulled in front of their mansion, Sharpay walked out through the gates and her eyes gleamed as Ryan flashed her the paper with Chad's picture on it. Sharpay squealed and jumped into the car, hugging the prince's picture close to her. There was only one thing Sharpay wanted from this visit and there was no secret about what it was.

_Rich people, old people, all got dreams_

And as Chad paraded down the street with the jazz players and Taylor was cleaning a couple of the tables outside of the diner, there was only one encounter. Chad grinned at Taylor as he passed her by, trying to woo her with his award-winning smile and guitar skills. But all Taylor did was finish cleaning and roll her eyes at his arrogance before heading back inside. Shrugging his shoulders like it was no big loss, Chad continued playing and continued on the street, neither him nor Taylor realizing that this would not be the last time their paths would cross.

_Dreams do come true in New Orleans_

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><p>Ok so it was a pretty short chapter. I'm sorry it couldn't be longer. I was waiting on posting this because I wanted to see if there would be any more reviews from the first chapter and there weren't so here it is anyway! xD As you can see, I gave a brief introduction to Chad, Troy, and Tiara to give an idea of their characters. Of course you all knew Chad was going to be Prince Naveen because...well it's Chaylor and I'm assuming that's why you're reading this. =P it was either going to be Troy or Donny as Lawrence and even though Lawrence does kind of turn over to the dark side, I put Troy as him. After all he and Chad are best friends so why wouldn't Troy be with Chad from the far away yet to be named country? You'll just have to see what happens now won't you? As for Tiara the plan was pretty much always to make her the Dr Facilier. For those of you who saw the movie, Dr Facilier was really after the riches of Big Daddy so in a way was really the villain of Big Daddy and Charolette. And from HSM3, Tiara obviously turned out to be a worse Sharpay so if Sharpay and Ryan are the Charolette and Big Daddy, who else but Tiara would be Dr Facilier? Does that make sense? I hope so, a lot of stuff I say doesn't feel like it makes sense. o_0 Oh well. And like I said, you will learn more about their characters when the time comes. And no one has responded to coming up with a potential name for the country Chad would be from, so again please feel free to suggest ideas, I love hearing you guys' ideas. But the name kind of does have to be revealed in the next chapter so if no one gives any suggestions I'll find a way to come up with a name but I can't promise yet how good or bad it'll be...my only idea was Italia, but I'm pretty sure that's how you say Italy in Italian and I don't think Italy has a moncarchy so that's out. But i do have more good news, I am currently in the works of starting a new fanfiction which will also mostly be Chaylor but focus on all of the other characters as well in addition to some OC's. I've got all the characters written up and as soon as I complete the first chapter (or possibly two, it depends) that should be going up. Yeah I know, it's a really bad idea for me to work on two fanfictions at the same time but guess what, I'm gonna be a bad girl and do it anyway. XD Am I typing too much now? I think I am, so I will leave you guys for now and wish you all a good day and a happy, happy summer! (=<p> 


	3. Morning at John's

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything!**

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><p>"Order up!"<p>

Business was buzzing as usual in the early morning at John's. People were coming and going ordering their breakfast and coffee and Taylor was the one taking more of the others, casually walking across the small diner as the morning rush slowly calmed down. While Taylor was in charge of taking orders and delivering the food, the head chef in charge of preparing the food and tossing it to Taylor to deliver was none other than Darbus. Though her full name was Alyson Darbus, people often called her by her last name. Darbus was a bitter old woman, one who had dreams of performing on Broadway or traveling the world as an actress back in her day; when that dream failed she had nothing for her except to take over a tiny food shack. The only bright side to her day was that she never had to hear anyone call her a crazy old cat lady. Darbus hit her spatula against the bell on the counter, calling Taylor over to deliver the breakfast she just prepared for one of her best customers. Darbus seemed quite old fashioned in her white apron and poncho, but with a hairnet covering her slowly fading blond locks and some way out of style glasses there was no doubt that she was…well, getting on in years.

Taylor signaled Darbus that she was coming, making a quick round across the place to see if anyone needed coffee. When someone called her over for a fresh glass, Taylor happily obliged. Though she was just about to head to the back where the fresh pancakes were waiting, Taylor was called over by a couple of friends.

"Hey Taylor!"

"Good morning Martha, everyone." Taylor greeted. "Would you all like some coffee?"

"We're good, Tay." Martha shook her head. "But a bunch of us are going out dancing tonight. You know, pop and lock and jam and break in all. How about you join us?"

The others at the table nodded in agreement, urging Taylor to join them. They seemed so insistent but Taylor shook her head as she poured another gentleman some more coffee. "You know I have two left feet." She stated.

"How would you know if you've never danced before?" Martha inquired. "Besides, it's almost Mardi Gras! Live a little, take a break from working and come party with us."

"No thank you. Besides…" Taylor shook her head before looking to the little girl at the gentleman's table covered in what appeared to be an exploded jelly doughnut, "...need a napkin, sweetie?" She handed the little girl a napkin before approaching her friends' table again. "Besides I'm working a double shift tonight. You know, since money and everything's been coming in a bit slowly. And I need to work as much as I can so I can-"

"So you can save up for your restaurant." The group finished in unison for her. It was something they'd heard thousands of times before. Taylor could be fun to hang out with if she let loose a little and relaxed more than she did, but she was just so insistent on getting her restaurant. It wasn't that they didn't understand; they knew how much this dream meant to Taylor, with how close she was to her father and all. What they didn't understand was when she constantly worked and put in so much effort to get what she wanted was why she never took a break. Taylor was a hard worker; she deserved a night off without needing to worry about saving for some place that might never even come to her. And the last thing they wanted was for her dreams to get crushed. If anything else, a night out would definitely take her mind off of that possibility.

"We get it Taylor, we really do. You work all the time so you can save up for your restaurant. But girl, all you ever do is work." Martha responded. "When are you gonna let it go and just hang loose one night without a care in the world? You've got your whole life to work."

Taylor was about to respond when she heard another ding and Darbus yell for the second time to order up. Taylor shrugged her shoulders to her friends, "Maybe next time." She left their table and headed to the back counter to grab the food. And although her friends started talking again, thinking Taylor could no longer hear them, she was able to catch a few exchanges.

"I told you all she wouldn't come."

"I know, I know. But it was worth a try."

"Hey it's her loss. More party time for us right? At least we won't have boring old Taylor to drag us down."

"You're probably right. She'd be going on all night about her restaurant anyway."

Taylor glanced back to them from the corner of her eye. Boring? They thought that she was boring? Taylor knew she put a lot of time into working and saving up her money, but that didn't mean she was boring…. Did it? What was so bad about hard work and looking everything so seriously anyway? Someone had to do it.

Darbus folded her arms from the kitchen as Taylor approached. "You are not talking about that old restaurant again, are you?" she scoffed.

Taylor pointed towards the grill, "You're burning, Darbus."

Darbus rolled her eyes and flipped the eggs that were burning. "I don't understand why you waste so much time for a restaurant anyway. There are plenty of places in New Orleans where you can work cheap. And you know I've offered to sell you this place. After all it's been in my care for far too long now."

"No offense, Darbus, but your price was just too high for me." Taylor said as she took the pancakes and muffins off the counter and placed them on her tray. "Besides there's this old abandoned building I've had my eyes on for years now. I'm getting close to how much I need to buy it from the Fenner sisters and I can fix it up to get it just where I want it to be. I've got everything planned out."

"Really, dear? Just how close are you?" Darbus questioned.

Taylor blinked. Sure, she wasn't as close as she was leading on; truth be told, Taylor was only half way there. She needed to take on a lot more hours if she wanted to continue saving up even close to the rate she was to get the place soon. And even if she was or wasn't any closer to the price than she was yesterday, why should it be anyone's business other than hers or Gabriella's? Trying not to let it get to her as she poured a fresh cup of coffee Taylor responded quickly, "Where are my beignets?"

Darbus laughed as she began tossing the numerous other plates of food that were finished to Taylor, who was nearly struggling to catch them all without dropping anything. "Darling you have just about as much of a chance of getting that restaurant as I do of becoming a horse jockey and winning the Kentucky Derby!" And just to add icing onto the cake, Darbus even began acting as much of a jockey as she could, yelling things like "High-ho horsey" and even pretending like she was riding a horse.

Taylor rolled her eyes. She knew Darbus was making fun of her like all the others, but it was time like these that she understood why the lady never made it big in acting or singing in the first place. She delivered the plates of food to the customers who had asked for them, saving the beignets for someone who was just walking into the restaurant.

"Morning, Taylor." Ryan greeted as he took his usual seat at the table by the door.

"Good morning, Ryan." Taylor answered. "I heard about your big accomplishment. Congratulations on being crowned king of the Mardi gras parade."

"Cause me completely off guard." He chuckled. "I kind of expected it the second time and it did surprise me a little the third time, but I never expected for it to be five times in a row!" Even with the misfortune of losing the parents at an early age and running whatever the family had owned on his own, there were a few perks to having the last name Evans. For one thing, it sure made Ryan one of the most eligible bachelors in New Orleans. "You know, I was thinking of celebrating with a good old jazz square, but I do a jazz square every time I do something. So I was thinking of…"

"Beignets?" Taylor grinned as she placed the plate of food on his table.

"Oh, my favorite!" Ryan beamed as he didn't waste any time digging in. "You know what, I say screw watching what I'm eating! I say to keep them coming until I puke!"

"You're the boss." Taylor giggled. "I'll go tell Darbus to throw on a fresh batch." But before she could take another step towards the back, there was a minor interruption.

"TAYLOR! TAY, TAY, TAY, TAY, TAY!" Sharpay exclaimed she burst through the door. She ran over to Taylor and practically pulled her back over to hers and Ryan's table. As much as both Sharpay and Taylor had grown over the years, Sharpay's loud voice and commanding of attention had sure never changed. Her hair was still long and blond and she still had the love of the color pink but…oh wait, almost nothing about Sharpay had changed. She was the same hopeless romantic, spoiled, hyper girl that Taylor knew. "Have you heard the news, Tay? Do you know what's happening today?" Sharpay continued. She jumped into her seat next to her brother and tugged on his sleeve before he could take another bite of the food. "Tell her! Tell her Ryan, tell her!"

"Of course, how could I forget?" Ryan chuckled slightly as he adjusted his very bright and colorful hat. He pulled out the newspaper from his back pocket that he had just brought from a very nice little newspaper boy, "Prince Chad…"

"Prince Chad of Italica is coming to New Orleans!" Sharpay exclaimed, grabbing the paper from Ryan's hands. She shrieked with happiness and was practically kissing the prince's picture on the front page. "Isn't it just fabulous, Taylor?" She turned to Ryan and practically shook him, nearly hitting him with his hat trying to get him to talk. "Tell her what you did, Ry! TELL HER!"

Ryan cleared his throat. "Well, I was able to ta-"

But before he could get another word in, Sharpay eagerly interrupted again. "Ryan invited Prince Chad to our masquerade ball tonight!" She shrieked again before calming down. "Tell her what else, Ry."

Ryan picked up a beignet and was ready to take a bite out of it. He opened his mouth to speak, then glanced questioningly to Sharpay with the knowledge that she would jump in again.

"Go on, tell her." Sharpay repeated casually.

Ryan nodded. "And…"

And there went Sharpay again. "And he's stay-"

Luckily despite Ryan being slow most of the time, he could be a quick thinker when he had to. And as much as he loved his sister, if he didn't know better, sometimes she just acted so ADHD about guys. Wanting to actually get a few more words in, Ryan placed the beignet in her mouth so Sharpay wouldn't be able to get another word in. Ryan smiled at the temporary silence before finishing. "And he's staying at our house as my personal guest." He sighed with relief, glad that he had been able to finish and get the last word in for once.

"Sharpie, that is fabulous." Taylor congratulated her friend. Knowing Ryan, she didn't even need to ask how he pulled it off. Ryan had a way of winning people over and convincing them to stay with his family as their personal guest; all he had to do was offer a good jazz square, some free food, maybe a little party, and a whole lot of begging. Man, Ryan could be really good at begging! "I hope you don't mind if I give you a little advice. Gabriella always says that the quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Taylor said as she brought over a fresh plate of beignets.

"Well, Gabs sure is a good woman who knows what she's talking about." Ryan grinned as he rubbed his hands together staring at the food. "I'd definitely take that advice. I mean, you know, if I were a woman. Because last I checked, I was a man. I can't win a man over with food…that'd be weird, right?"

Sharpay grinned and hit her hand on the table. "That's it!"

"Wait…what's it?" Ryan asked nervously. "I didn't say anything!"

"Not you, Ry." Sharpay sighed. She grabbed the beignet out of his mouth and ran over to Taylor who was getting more food from Darbus.

"What just happened?" Ryan blinked as the food seemed to disappear right from his hand before he could bite into it.

"Taylor, you are an absolute genius!" Sharpay told her. "I'm gonna need like 500 of your man-catching beignets for my masquerade ball tonight!" She hugged Taylor and then ran back to Ryan. She practically pulled off his jacket and went through the pockets searching for his wallet, leaving Ryan with a mouthful of powdered food and the most confused look on his face. As soon as Sharpay found his wallet, she took out about as much money as she could hold and practically stuffed it into Taylor's hands. "Will this about cover it, hun?"

Taylor stood wide-eyed as she tried to handle all the bills that Sharpay and forced on her. Not that Taylor was arguing or anything, but it was so sudden for her. Sharpay wasn't one to be so generous, but when she wanted a man she would do just about anything to get her hands on him. Not even entirely sure what to say, Taylor got out the only question she was thinking of, "Uh…how much did you say this was, Sharpie…?"

"I don't know. Like one…two thousand dollars?" Sharpay guessed, shrugging her shoulders.

Sharpay was definitely being more than generous, that was for sure. There was no way Taylor could accept so much money from her best friend, no matter how rich she was. On the other hand, Sharpay was paying her to make food. Perhaps it was just the amount that made Taylor feel guilty; there was no way 500 beignets could cost one or two thousand dollars. Then again, there was a perfect reason for Taylor not to turn it down. "This…this should cover it just fine, Sharpie." Taylor breathed, still taking everything in. "This is it…. I'm getting my restaurant!"

Overhearing Taylor, Darbus' mouth dropped open wide as her spatula fell out of her hand, dropping the egg on it onto the bell. Apparently now Darbus had to find a way to become a jockey and win the Kentucky Derby.

Sharpay squealed and ran over to her brother, pulling him out of his seat. "Woo-hoo! Tonight my prince is finally coming! We are going to meet at that ball and fall madly in love and he'll take me back to Italica as his queen! Cause once I lay my eyes on him tonight, there is sure as heck no way I'm letting that boy go! Come on, Ryan!"

Ryan gasped as he was pulled by Sharpay out of the door and back to the car to prepare for the ball. "B-b-but my beignets…"

But the forgotten beignets were the least of anyone's worries. Because there was someone overhearing their conversation, eavesdropping on every little word that had escaped their mouths. And peering from behind one of the menus at a corner table, Tiara quirked an eyebrow and looked towards her shadow, both of which grew evil grins. There was a scheme beginning to brew and Tiara knew just what to do. But first, she needed the prince of Italica.

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><p>Yes I is back on! ^^ I know I kept saying I would update more and all but I just keep getting distracted. It's been a crazy summer. I've been seeing a lot of my friends, especially one who just went back to school, I've had stuff to do…it's a long story. But I'm totally making it up to you guys! I can't promise constant updates, especially when school starts for me in less than two weeks and I don't know if I'm getting a new laptop or not so it might be hard for me to type stuff up while I'm at school, but I can promise at least another chapter today and see how far I can get before school does start again. Anyway since I do have less than two weeks left I figured I should stop being lazy and get something continuing with this story. And since there have been such a lack of Chaylor stories (or updates of them) something had to be done about that! So what can I say about this chapter? Hm…well Darbus was the chef. Not really much I could say about that. But if I may crazy as usual, why wouldn't Darbus be a crazy old lady chef at some restaurant named after one of the directors of Princess and the Frog if she didn't make it big in music? All that should leave is the explanation of Chad's imaginary home country! Well I would like to thank WhatTheHellCan'tRedVinesDo and MermaidRam85 for their suggestions of Italica, Jamaicaly, and Alessendio. I decided to go with Italica because it sounded like a nice ring. Prince Chad of Italica…it just sounded good to me. XD But I loved MermaidRam85's combining of Corbin's Jamaican and Italian heritage into one. And WhatTheHellCan'tRedVinesDo, I have to agree in saying that Corbin saying Alessendio would be really hot! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and seeing Ryan act silly and a really Charlottified Sharpay! I hope you'll be ready for a little sing a long next chapter, because that's where "Almost There" comes in! Continue having an awesome summer and feel free to review and tell me what you think! Or you could always just review to talk, talking is very good! XD<p> 


	4. Almost There

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything!**

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><p>Later that afternoon, Taylor looked over what appeared to be an old run-down building. It was near one of the piers and had a for sale sign on it. On the small patch of grass in front of the building was a sign that read "Fenner Sisters Realty". There was no doubt that this was the building for her future restaurant that Taylor had been talking about. Taylor could still recall the first time she saw the building; she and her family had just taken one of the boats across the pier in order to visit some relatives. In broad daylight it looked like nothing more than an old broken building. But at night when all the lights were lit up and the moon was out shining Taylor couldn't help but admire it. She saw how it glowed on the water and could imagine how amazing it would look with neon green lights, chandeliers glistening from the windows, and the glorious sound of classy music escaping through the cracks. She had pointed it out to her father and suddenly she had all of these amazing ideas on what they could do with it. Ever since then Taylor had vowed that it would be the place for her and her father's restaurant. Luckily since then, the building had not been sold. As broken and run down as it was, it was on a perfect location and if fixed up just right then people would come all over to visit it. Taylor could hardly believe that after all that dreaming and saving she was finally getting it!<p>

Taylor smiled and turned from the building to three young ladies who were in the process of removing the fore sale signs. "Everything looks peachy keen, Ms. Fenner…and Ms. Fenner…and Ms. Fenner."

The Fenner Sisters were three of the best realtors in New Orleans. Despite them being different races and heritages, the three women were miracle workers at selling places that others thought couldn't be sold. Emma, Jackie, and Lea had all been adopted at young ages into one household and although the community looked down on their parents for it, they sure didn't do that anymore. The Fenner Sisters were surely a force to be reckoned with. And if no one went along with their persuasive attitudes or charm, they would definitely be won over by their fabulous play of emotions.

"Oh it was a pleasure for us to be doing business with you. We've been looking forward to this for a long time." Emma beamed.

"You don't have to worry about anything. We'll have all of the paperwork ready by Mardi Gras and this place will officially be all yours." Jackie added.

"Oh the pleasure's all mine." Taylor responded as she watched the women get in their car and prepare to drive off. "But how about I do you all one better? I can sign the paperwork in person tonight at the Evans' masquerade ball."

"You drive a hard bargain, Ms. Taylor!" Lea called as they drove off into the distance. "We'll be seeing you tonight then, doll!"

Taylor smiled at the accomplishment. Not only did she have all the money for her place, not only was her getting it a sure fire thing, but it was going to be as good as hers within a few hours! Taylor could hardly believe that after everything she's gone through, her dream was coming true so fast. Now if only her dad James could be here to witness everything, Taylor would be even more overjoyed. But she knew he was with her in spirit and that if he could see he would be so proud of her. And knowing that her best friend had been able to get her here with what felt like a generous donation for her beignets and that her sister would be supporting her all the way, Taylor couldn't be happier. She couldn't wait to get started setting everything up.

"Table for one please?"

Taylor's thoughts were interrupted as she turned around and saw Gabriella approaching with a big cooking pot.

"Gabriella?" Taylor was a bit shocked to see her here so soon. She thought for sure she wouldn't have seen Gabriella until she got home later and would have help preparing her outfit for the ball.

"I just thought I'd bring a little something to help you get started." She smiled warmly. "I know it's a little rusty and a big out of shape, but I thought it'd be nice to have a piece of Dad here."

Taylor gasped and ran over to hug her sister. "Gabriella, it's wonderful. Daddy's gumbo pot, thank you so much!"

Gabriella hugged her sister back. Even though they'd been through a lot, losing their mom and then a few mere years ago, their father, they still had each other. It was a bond they shared like no other sisters had. "I miss him too, Tay." She said simply. But there would be plenty more time to be sentimental and depressed about missing their father later. This was something they'd been waiting for and it was time to celebrate. Gabriella was not about to waste another minute. Even though she looked the same age as Taylor and had grown into a beautiful curvaceous woman, Gabriella's strongest asset was still her brains. Her second strongest asset was always trying to make people happy and forget about their troubles. Both of which were very much coming in handy right now. "Alright, I really can't wait any longer! Hurry up and open the door?"

Taylor smiled and hurriedly opened the front doors to show Gabriella what exactly they were in store for. "Just look at it, Gabriella! Doesn't this place make you wanna cry?"

Gabriella walked in through the front doors and stopped in her place, looking around the building puzzled. It was two stories high and the second floor could be seen from the front doors. But the staircase leading up to it was falling apart, barely standing; windows and other doors were boarded up, the roof had numerous holes in it, dust covered the wood, the wood itself was breaking if it hadn't already been broken, and it looked like almost nothing but garbage covered the floors. Gabriella was speechless at the sight. It was a lot of work, no doubt, but she didn't expect it to look this bad. She couldn't help but wonder what exactly it was that Taylor saw in this place. Not sure what else to say or how to say it, Gabriella responded hesitantly, "Yes…."

Taylor removed her jacket and threw it on the banister and walked through the building, pointing everything out that she had just in mind with the passion and imagination anyone would have about a dream they had. "The maître d is going to be right where you're standing. And through those doors, a gourmet kitchen. And in the back there's gonna be a stage for music and entertainment. Up the stairs and out the balcony will be a private candlelit dinner for date nights. And hanging from the ceiling, a big old crystal chandelier!"

Gabriella giggled watching her sister. She placed the gumbo pot on a nearby stool and walked over to Taylor. As serious and hardworking of a person that Taylor came on to be, she had this big imagination with images that just about anyone could picture. If Taylor would let her guard down or let loose a little more, then she could be much more fun than she really led on to be. "You're daddy's girl, all right." She said. "I can't tell you how many times after you went to bed that he went on and on about getting his own restaurant. I does seem a little out of shape now, but I'm sure once it's done it's going to be absolutely wonderful. But it is a shame that you're working so hard."

Taylor had picked up a nearby broom and had begun to sweep the floor when she quirked an eyebrow, a bit intrigued yet also offended by Gabriella's comment. Taylor knew she worked hard a lot, but she couldn't believe her own sister called it a bad thing. "What do you mean, it's a shame I'm working so hard? Gabriella, working hard is what I do, what we do. And how can I let up now when I'm so close? I'm less than five hours away from owning this place and getting it together! I've gotta make sure all of Daddy's hard work means something."

"Taylor!" Gabriella gasped. She knew Taylor meant well, but there always seemed to be something that the girl forgot. "Dad may have never gotten the dream or place he wanted, but he had something so much better than any dream could get him. He had us. He had love. And that's all he wanted for us. That's all I want for us, too. Especially you. I'd love for you to find your Prince Charming and sweep you off your feet, dancing the night away and into the rest of your lives together."

Taylor laughed. "Gabriella, you're almost starting to sound like Sharpay. It's not for me now; I've got more important things on my mind. You should go off and find your Prince Charming, if anything. I don't have time for dancing. That's just gonna have to wait a while."

"How long are we talking about?" Gabriella inquired.

"_Ain't got time for messing around_

_And it's not my style"_

Taylor led Gabriella over to an empty table and sat her down at it, pulling off one of the ripped and dusty curtains off the nearby window and placed it on the table like a table cloth.

"I'd like some nieces and nephews, please." Gabriella responded.

"_This old town can slow you down_

_People taking the easy way"_

Taylor took out the magazine clipping of their dad's dream restaurant from her pocket and showed it to Gabriella, then had her look back at the old building, wishing that she could show her sister exactly what she saw in it, what she wanted to make out of it.

"_But I know exactly where I'm going_

_Getting closer and closer every day_

_And I'm almost there_

_I'm almost there"_

Taylor could picture it all now. Bright lights illumining the future restaurant, shining on every customer and chef that walked in and out. And as she would enter in a black cocktail dress and shot hair cut so professionally with just a headband to add a splash of color, a couple of maître d's would see her in and she would begin her nights of running one of New Orleans' finest eateries.

"_People down here think I'm crazy, but I don't care_

_Trials and tribulations, I've had my share_

_There ain't nothing gonna stop me now cause I'm almost there"_

Every problem or question that one of the staff members would come to her with, Taylor would be able to solve in an instant. She would perfect the slightest issue with dessert even if it was just fixing a cherry to be placed on top of a chocolate cake. She would taste test the beverages and OK the menus before strutting to continue her business. If someone who was trying to fix the chandelier was about to collapse off the ladder, Taylor would put it right back into place so it or he wouldn't fall over. The waiters would all walk around in tuxedos and have matching flowers on their jackets which Taylor would place on herself and they would go about setting the tables in perfect harmony with each other.

"_I remember Daddy told me: 'Fairy tales can come true_

_You gotta make 'em happen, it all depends on you'_

_So I work real hard each and every day_

_Now things for sure are going my way"_

After the tables would be set, Taylor would head back into the kitchen and work with the chefs to prepare meals. She would taste the gumbo and add her own special secret ingredient to make it taste perfect. And for dessert she would make and stir all the whipped cream and decorate it onto the snacks perfectly, each one getting the exact same amount of whipped cream and style of it.

"_Just doing what I do_

_Look out boys, I'm coming through_

_And I'm almost there_

_I'm almost there"_

Taylor would strut through the waiters and be the first to open up at night and let all the customers come pouring in. Every seat in the house would be filled and the waiters would personally carry her upstairs, the customers watching in envy at what a success and inspiration she could be to people everywhere.

"_People gonna come here from everywhere_

_And I'm almost there_

_I'm almost there"_

Then she would raise her glass and toast the customers before they would begin their meals. Taylor would slide down the banister assisting people such as cleaning off little boys' dirty faces with sauce or chocolate, bringing a little extra ketchup or side dish to the tables, and maybe once in a while sneak an extra cherry from one of the dessert carts for herself. And when all was said and done, she would pass by the nice curly-haired guy playing the piano and place a feather in his hair or maybe sneak a little flirt with him.

"_There's been trials and tribulations_

_You know I've had my share"_

And as her fantasy fainted, Taylor shared a hug with Gabriella, knowing that her vision had gotten through to her in the slightest bit. But both knew very well that Taylor wouldn't be going through this alone; she would be dragging Gabriella with her through every step. So she led Gabriella through the building once more, climbing over one of the water mills and working together dancing with a couple of extra brooms and sweeping off some more dust.

"_But I've climbed the mountain, I've crossed the river_

_And I'm almost there_

_I'm almost there_

_I'm almost there!"_

They removed the boards from the doors and windows and tossed out some of the garbage on the floors. Then they set up the single table in there, adjusting the curtain table cloth and placing an empty bottle and plate on it as though they were setting up for a real customer. Taylor picked up the gumbo pot and Gabriella placed a lone flower in the empty bottle like a vase. It was the first of many tables that was going to be set up there and both women knew that this would not be their last time there; that one table where Taylor was able to share her vision with Gabriella and was merely a premise to what would soon be the rest of their lives would be what they would come back to and continue fixing up to fit Taylor's fantasy perfectly. And with that, the two of them linked arms and strutted out happily to prepare for the masquerade ball. They truly were almost there!

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><p>I said I would get a second chapter up today to make up for lost time, and I did! Ok...technically since I live in New York and I'm posting this after midnight, it's not on the same day, but on the West coast it's still Friday so if you look at it that way, I really did post both this and the last chapter on the same day! XD This was a pretty simple chapter, I think. Basically it was just Taylor singing the song Almost There. Now I decided to go with Emma, Jackie, and Lea as the Fenner Brothers...or in this case, Sisters. I don't know, I just thought it was nice and simple and can you guys imagine the three of them as the frog hunters later on in the movie? Cause I kinda can't, they seem to squeamish and girlie for that, I think. I mean they were the Sharpettes, right? o_0 Back on track. So I wasn't sure exactly how to describe the whole fantasy scene about the restaurant...or the art style. Don't get me wrong, as an art major I'm familiar-ish with the stye (and I say ish because I can't think of all art movements off the top of my head, but at least i know when something looks familiar, I'm just bad with the artists and dates in general), but I couldn't figure out the right words to describe the fantasy. Especially at like 11 at night. Ok, I started at like 9 or 10 something and then I got distracted by TV and then I was trying to type this while watching iCarly at the same time...it's a really good show by the way, my friend and I totally heart Gibby! LOL Ok, I keep rambling and getting distracted, sorry. Long story short, I decided to go with Taylor describing through the song what she saw in the mess of a building that would become her future restaurant and the actions going on are the visions in Taylor's mind. Makes sense, right? I hope so, cause that's the best way I know to explain it. But what is easy to explain...curly haired piano playing guy? Heh? Heh? Familiar, right? you know who made a little cameo there? you guys totally know who snuck a little cameo in there! =P So I'll see what I can do about the next couple of chapters before school starts, where you will get to learn more about Chad, Troy, and Tiara. Since they should be in the next chapter which will have the very catchy Friends on the Other Side. And if I hadn't said so already, I would like to thank you guys for reviewing and giving your input and I would especially like to thank you for being so patient with me and hopefully not angry with me for being lazy, distracted or whatever and taking so long to update. So I hope you guys continue to enjoy hatever of summer is left, have a wonderful what should be Saturday by the time you read this, and we must end by remembering one important thing which I hope is one of the biggest reasons why we read stories like this... CHAYLOR RULES FOREVER! (=<p> 


	5. Friends on the Other Side

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing! I wish I did, but I don't!**

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><p>The streets of New Orleans were near impossible to navigate through. And Troy having to carry so many bags wasn't much help either. He apologized constantly as he bumped into people walking the streets; some looked at him confused as to why he was carrying twice his weight in luggage and others offered to help, although Troy paid no attention to them. The only thing on his mind was the prince. After they had both gotten off the boat, Chad had wandered off with a few pretty girls and Troy had been in the process of getting the fallen luggage back together. Troy knew how his friend operated; the two of them grew up together. Troy's family had been the royal advisors to the Danforths for five generations. Even though Troy's family wasn't related to Chad's, they still acted like family. Sometimes Chad had forgotten that and treated Troy more like an assistant than a brother because he was so spoiled and pampered growing up. Troy had his share of good luck but he never let it go to his head. There would simply be times where he saw how easy Chad had it while in the meantime Troy would be the one to struggle. Chad never realized how easy he had it and let everything go to his head. If Troy was the one in charge, things would be so much different. He wouldn't expect to be waited on hand and foot or have everything handed to him on a silver platter; and it wouldn't hurt to see how Chad liked being treated as an assistant once in a while, either.<p>

But now wasn't the time for daydreaming. Troy still needed to find Chad but he seemed nowhere to be found. That is, until he heard some music coming from around the corner. Chad followed the sound towards a small crowd clapping to the beat. Troy squeezed through the crowd to see what was going on and surely enough there was Chad, joining a jazz band with his guitar and dancing with a newspaper boy. Troy had no idea how Chad was doing all that and managing to flirt with a couple of girls in the crowd at the same time. He tried to get the prince's attention, but Chad seemed much more focused on watching the newspaper boy dance.

"_Nessun modo_, look at this boy go," Chad exclaimed.

"Chad! Chad, your highness," Troy attempted to get his attention. He managed to get past the crowd and towards the prince. Troy dropped the bags and started to talk, but being the only one in the middle of a crowd not dancing to the music was extremely awkward. Troy smiled nervously and attempted to dance a little before talking to Chad again. "I'm really glad I found you, man. I've been looking for you everywhere."

Chad laughed. "What a coincidence, my friend, I have been avoiding you everywhere!"

"But we're going to be late…" Troy started.

"Listen Troy, do you hear that?" Chad cut him off. They were quiet for a moment and Troy looked at him confused. Chad grinned and continued playing his guitar. "It's the sound of jazz, my friend! Listen! How great would it be to have this music back home?" He winked to a couple of girls, "It's beautiful, no?"

"Actually I'm not really too fond of…"

"Not too fond? I know how to fix that! We celebrate and I buy drinks for everyone!"

Though everyone else seemed ecstatic about it, Troy was more than doubtful. "With what? You're broke, remember? There's no way to buy anyone anything! I hate to break it to you man, but at this rate you got two choices. Marry a rich girl or get a job."

Chad flinched. He glanced past Troy where he saw a man cleaning some horse manure off the street. It was a no brainer for Chad which was the better option to get more money; there was no way he'd ever be caught dead working. He turned to Troy and shrugged his shoulders. "Alright man, alright, you got me," he gave in. "But first we need to dance some more!" Chad grabbed Troy and began swinging him around the crowd, much to Troy's dismay. Troy asked Chad to stop, but Chad seemed much more amused. "I don't know how you can say you don't dance, man. You're pretty light on your feet!"

"More like I'm getting dizzy on my feet," Troy responded. He was hardly able to keep his balance and he wasn't much of a dancer. So when Chad finally let him go Troy felt himself spinning out of control until he finally knocked into the tuba player and they both collapsed, Troy knocking his head into the instrument in the process.

Chad chuckled and went to help him up. "See Troy, you finally got into the music! Do you get my joke? Because your head, it's…well it's kinda in the tuba."

Troy held onto Chad until he regained his balance. "I get it, alright." He went to go gather the bags, with Chad following him. "That's why I don't like dancing. It's embarrassing."

"You worry too much about what other people think," Chad said. "But I'm pretty sure they were enjoying it. You were quite amusing to them, my friend."

"I'm glad they think so," Troy muttered.

Chad laughed and playfully slapped his friend on the back. But they weren't alone. There was a petite blond woman hovering over them. She wasn't any older than them, but she certainly didn't look immature. She wore what resembled a British school outfit and a black jacket over it. She had a decent amount of jewelry on her and carried what looked like a magician's wand in her hand. Though her appearance was a young she presented herself like a business woman, a negotiator of sorts if one will.

"Top of the morning, gov'ners," she greeted.

"Well, bonjour to you, too," Chad replied.

"She's English, not French," Troy corrected. He then looked to her curiously, "Um…can we help you with something?"

"On the contrary sirs, I should be asking what I can help you with," she replied. She reached into her shirt pocket and handed Chad a business card. "My card, please go ahead and read for yourself." She slipped her arm around Chad and led him down the street with Troy not far behind.

"Tiara Gold. Palm Reader. Tarot readings. Charms and potions. Dreams made real," Chad read aloud. He raised an eyebrow with curiosity. "No kidding."

"Chad, wait up!" Troy called. He nearly struggled to follow the two of them when they turned a corner towards a dark alley.

"What can I say? I have a gift and I want to use it. It's what I do. And what better honor than assist a visiting royalty, am I not correct?" Tiara responded. If it wasn't a way with words that this Shadow Woman had then it was her attractive accent and innocent voice. Tiara had been around magic since she was young; even as a toddler she had taken to it quite well as a hobby. She began as a child with simple magic tricks like pulling a rabbit out of a hat or turning a wand into a bouquet of flowers. When she was old enough to read Tiara took to tarot readings and other forms of fortune telling. Though young, Tiara was making a pretty good living. But there was more to her than magic tricks and a pretty face. Wanting more for herself, Tiara took a chance and made her way to New Orleans. But making it as anything, even as a petty street performer, was much harder than she thought. People would pass on by or go on with their day without wanting to add a little magic to their lives. And though Tiara's skills were far above average, they still weren't enough to make it in America. But there was an offer that came up; despite how dangerous the offer may have sounded or how unnatural it seemed, Tiara took it. Now not only did she have more control of magic than she could have ever dreamed, but she drew closer and closer to becoming the most famous – not to mention richest – young woman in Louisiana.

Needless to say, in perhaps thirty words or less, she had fascinated Chad. "Troy, come look at this," he called to his friend, "I think this remarkable woman has just read my palm."

Troy looked at Chad doubtfully and then at Tiara. He shook his head when he saw the daily news sticking out of her back jacket pocket. "More like this morning's newspaper." He pulled Chad over to the side, "Sir, as entertaining as this may seem, I don't think we should get mixed up with her. Whatever she's pulling, I'm not buying it. I think we'd be better off just heading to the Evans' immediately. After all, they have been expecting us."

Tiara scowled and pointed her wand at Troy, quickly grabbing his attention. "I don't think you quite understand what I'm capable of, sir. You do not want to disrespect me or you will get on my bad side. And you wouldn't want that now would you, gov'ner? You're in my world now, not your world. I've got friends on the other side."

Tiara lifted her wand towards the doorway and the two lampposts surrounding it suddenly lit with fire inside. She then directed the men's attention to the doorway which she pushed open. As she did so, there seemed to be some much deeper voices coming from inside.

"_She's got friends on the other side"_

Tiara took Chad's and Troy's hands and let them inside to what at first glance looked like an over decorated British magic shop. "That's an echo, gentlemen. Don't mind it at all, voices sound much deeper in here. You know how it goes. That's how it's done here in Louisiana after all." She snapped her fingers and the lights lit up over a stage which contained dark curtains, a much decorated table, three chairs, and a crystal ball.

"_Sit down at my table_

_Put your minds at ease_

_If you relax it will enable me to do anything I please"_

Tiara moved around the men, her shadow behind them clearly defined. Though she made no sudden movements, her shadow itself took off their jackets and hung them on a nearby coat rack and danced to its own tune, much different from Tiara's.

"_I can read your future_

_I can change it round some, too_

_I look deep into your heart and soul"_

She then smirked towards Troy and winked playfully, "You do have a soul, don't you Troy?" She jumped on the table and continued to show off her dance moves, unbeknownst to either of them that her shadow was moving differently.

"_Make your wildest dreams come true!_

_I got voodoo_

_I got hoodoo_

_I got things I ain't even tried!"_

She hung a few objects in Chad's and Troy's faces and then created a potion with her bare hands right in front of them. She pulled up her chair and sat down across from them, her shadow helping the boys into their seats as well.

"_And I got friends on the other side"_

Behind them were a few drama masks which repeated Tiara in the same deep voices they heard upon entering her domain.

"_She's got friends on the other side"_

Before either of them could look behind them, Tiara captivated them with a few card tricks.

"_The cards, the cards, the cards will tell_

_The past, the present, and the future as well"_

Troy still remained doubtful, but it was hard to think this woman was anything less than supernatural when three cards seemed to jump and slide from the deck onto the table all on their own.

"_The cards, the cards, just take three_

_Take a little trip into your future with me!"_

She shuffled the deck once more and set them out, allowing each man to take any three cards. Chad contently took three and looked to Troy, who merely shook his head. Chad gave him a playful nudge and Troy reluctantly gave in, choosing his three cards. Tiara set the deck beside her crystal ball and spread the three cards they each picked across the table. She eyed Chad first and picked up his first face down card. It showed a far away kingdom across the sea and below it was a family tree, though the tree seemed make the card branch down further than it went, ending with a striking pose of Chad as prince of Italica.

"_Now you, young man, are from across the sea_

_You come from two long lines of royalty"_

Tiara giggled and flashed Chad a keychain of what he thought looked like a zombie, "I'm a royal myself on my mummy's side." She tossed the keychain behind her and picked up the second card; it started out as a picture of Chad surrounded by a bunch of pretty girls. When Tiara flipped it, Chad was chained to a dungeon. And when she waved her hand over it once more there was an image of Chad marrying a rich blond girl atop a huge pile of gold coins.

"_Your lifestyle's high_

_But your funds are low_

_You need to marry a little honey whose daddy got dough"_

She shook her head and glanced at the curly-haired man. "Mumsy and popsy cut you off, didn't they?"

Chad shrugged his shoulders, deciding not to deny it. What point was there when she seemed to know everything anyway? "Sad, but true."

Tiara nodded, "Now you've got to get hitched. But hitching ties you down. You just want to be free, hop from place to place." She emphasized her point and his desires with some more card tricks before rubbing her fingers together, "But freedom takes green." She saw Chad's eyes light up and then revealed the rest of her deck of cards that were nothing but money.

"_It's the green, it's the green, it's the green you need_

_And when I look into your future_

_It's the green that I see!"_

Tiara turned her attention to Troy, who she seemed less interested in. She quickly showed him his three cards, starting with Troy carrying his family members on his back, then Troy carrying a much bigger woman on his back, and finally Troy dressed as a king with Chad as a servant in the background.

"_On you, little man, I don't want to waste much time_

_You've been pushed around all your life_

_You've been pushed around by your mother and your sister and your brother_

_And if you was married…_

_You'd be pushed around by your wife_

_But in your future, the you I see_

_Is exactly the man you always wanted to be!"_

Chad chuckled and nudged Troy. "You gotta admit, dude, she does have a point. You say yes to everyone."

Though Troy was about to respond, Tiara held her hands out to them. "Shake my hand? Come on, boys, won't you shake a poor sinner's hand?"

Chad appeared to have no problem with shaking her hand; he was curious to see what would happen. Troy, on the other hand, seemed much more hesitant. He wasn't really buying any of this. Still, it didn't mean that he was just going to get up and walk out. He couldn't leave Chad there alone; how would it look if he somehow showed up without the prince? On the other hand, this was the kind of thing Troy was waiting for. If what this Shadow Woman was saying was true, then Troy would have a chance to run things and make everything better. Maybe he could actually make a difference in the world and Chad could see just how privileged he's been all this time. He looked at Tiara, then at Chad. Chad seemed like he was waiting for something and Tiara had an unreadable smirk on her face. Troy held out his hand for a minute and thought, and then slowly shook her hand. Tiara's smirk grew as a snaky "yes" escaped her lips.

"_Are you ready?"_

"_Are you ready?"_

She snapped her fingers and the curtains in the back opened up, revealing floating heads of sorts.

"_Are you ready? Transformation central!"_

"_Transformation central!"_

Tiara pulled out a pendant on a necklace and Chad found himself suddenly trapped in his chair and unable to move.

"_Reformation central!"_

"_Reformation central!"_

Tiara brought the pendant to Chad's hand and it snapped at his finger, drawing a drop of blood from it and its eyes lighting up.

"_Transmogrification central!"_

Chad flinched and felt his body going tingly. He looked around but all he saw were faces moving around, crazy colors, and no sign of Troy or Tiara. He had no idea what was happening. But when he looked down at himself trapped in the chair again, he found a green light engulfing him and there was nothing he could do about it.

"_Can you feel it?_

_You're changing_

_You're changing_

_You're changing, alright!_

_I hope you're satisfied"_

Troy's eyes widened. Maybe Chad couldn't see him, but Troy could see everything perfectly. What he saw was Chad covered completely by the green light and shrinking down into the chair until he was no longer the curly-haired prince that Troy grew up with. What Troy saw was either horrifying or completely unbelievable. And before he knew it, something was happening to him as well. All Tiara did was smirk and dance with her puppets and voodoo dolls while her 'tarot reading' was coming to a close.

"_But if you ain't_

_Don't blame me_

_You can blame my friends on the other side"_

"_You got what you wanted!_

_But you lost what you had!"_

The lair became completely covered in darkness with nothing left except the sound of a simple "hush" from Tiara the Shadow Woman. Her plan was finally being put into motion and the prince of Italica was hers.

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><p>At long last, another chapte ris up! I would have had it up at least a couple of hours ago, but you know how it is. Pheh, ponies. They're so cartoony and distracting. Anyway first I would like to say for probably the hundreth time how sorry I am for being so slow on my updates. I thought I'd have more time during my break but it turned out most of the time was going to hanging out with my friends. So needless to say, it hasn't helped my senior thesis or fanfictions. If anything, it makes it all worse. No thinking for school makes it so much easier to come up with all these fanfic ideas and they're all impossible to do! Hopefully at some point I'll be able to finish this and my second HSM deleted scenes fanfic and then it'll be more stories...like an HSM version of How I Met Your Mother! Anyone ever see that show? It's hillarious and addicting! xD Now onto the important stuff that you may or may not take the next two minutes to read after reading this chapter and potentially typing a review for it! This was the chapter I was struggling with last time to write for some reason. I found out writing it this time, that I believe it has something to do with the dialogue. Have you ever tried to imagine Chad talking in a faint Italian accent in a Naveen-esque style? It's not as easy as it sounds. Luckily the chapter was easier to write once it got to the song part! I imagined with Tiara that "Friends on the Other Side" would be a Broadway extravegant musical style, so I tried to keep the descriptions minimal as to not go over the top. I also attempted to give Troy a normal introduction as opposed to his really short one from Down in New Orleans, and we have also learned Chad's foreign catchphrase! With Naveen it wa s"achidanza" or however you spell it, so with Chad Id ecided to keep it simple and semi-pronouncable to "nessun modo" which means "no way" in Italian. It was either that, or how you say "I don't believe it" in Italian which was a little lnoger and sounded incredibly similar to how you say the same thing in Spanish. Ok, that pretty much covers it here. I have one more week before school starts, an internship that already started, and still a ton of work to do for senior thesis so here's hoping I can get another chapter of something up within the week! And last but not least, I have to end this off with something very important! I would like to say thank you to <strong>MERMAIDRAM85<strong> for reading this chapter ahead of time and making sure it was worthy to be posted and read by the rest of the Chaylor (and to a lesser extent, Disney) obsessed fanfiction community! I couldn't have posted this chapter without her help! ^^ And thank you to the rest of you people for reading and as usual, I hope you enjoyed it and that everyone has a wonderful...what day is today? Saturday? Ok, then! Have a wonderful Saturday, everyone!


	6. Mermaids, Princesses and Dragons

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything**

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><p>Ryan had never seen a better turnout for one of his family's parties. It was barely seven at night and the party was already in full swing. Countless costumes wandered the dance floor and snack tables as the orchestra played in the background. People were dressing as about anything from a masked marauder to Little Bo Peep and her sheep to an octopus snatching as many drinks as he could at once. There wasn't a soul at the Evans Estate that wasn't dressed up or having fun. Ryan himself was wowing the crowd as a gladiator – and a very fashionable one at that. Roaming closely beside him was his and Sharpay's faithful dog Boi, who had a costume of his own. The little pup followed Ryan towards Taylor's snack table in his bunny outfit, though occasionally stopping to scratch one of the floppy ears. Ryan grinned and licked his lips at the first sight of the piping hot beignets.<p>

"Wow, Taylor, those look delicious!" Ryan exclaimed.

"Thanks Ryan. I worked hard on them," Taylor responded with a smile. "Can I interest you in one?"

"More like five," he chuckled. "But if you insist, I guess I can start out with one. Gotta save some for the guests, after all." He picked up one of the treats from the table, Boi watching eagerly and wagging his tail, but was barely able to get a bite in before catching the attention of Senator Ortega and wandering off into the crowd.

Taylor continued handing out beignets to anyone passing by who wanted one. Since she and Gabriella had gotten home from the abandoned building earlier, Taylor had been cooking and Gabriella had been sewing Taylor's costume. Though Gabriella's skill with a needle, thread and sewing machine have all gotten better in the past ten years, her outfits were never anything more than simple – except when making something for Sharpay, of course. Gabriella had been putting the final touches on Taylor's mermaid costume when she had once again brought up the topic of marriage.

"So, think you're gonna meet anyone at the party?"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Gabs, I'm not going there to meet anyone. I just wanna sign those papers from the Fenner Sisters so we can start setting up the restaurant."

"You're so close to your dream, Tay," Gabriella responded, "what's wrong with having a little fun tonight and maybe meet a Prince Charming?"

"There's no one at that party for me, Gabriella, believe me," Taylor said. "And if you're the one so hung up on the idea of marriage and kids then why aren't you out looking for someone?"

Gabriella giggled. "Trust me, I've tried. I just haven't found him yet. But at least I've been looking."

"So why are you so insistent on this anyway?" Taylor asked, setting the beignets on a plate to cool.

Gabriella stopped sewing and walked over to her sister. "Because we're all we've got left. I don't want some guy to come and sweep me off my feet and leave you behind. We're sisters; we've been together all our lives. I just want it to be the same way for the families we start someday. I know that if you find a guy before me, I'll be fine. I can keep looking and creating outfits, I'm happy with what I do no matter what. But you just get so caught up in your dreams and focus so hard on making them come true that you don't know what you could be missing. Your dreams will always be there and I'll always be there. But the perfect guy, wherever he is, may not be."

"I don't need a guy to make me happy, Gabriella."

"I'm not saying you do."

"Then please stop worrying. If he comes, he comes. If he doesn't it's no big deal."

"I just want you to be happy."

"I am happy, Gabriella. And I'll be even happier when the deal is finalized tonight. So you go off and find your Prince whoever; I should start getting ready for the party."

Taylor was used to that kind of talk between her and her sister; it came with Gabriella being such a hopeless romantic. She saw where Gabriella was coming from, but the conversations always ended the same. Gabriella was just too stubborn to admit that Taylor was happy with the way things were and Taylor was too stubborn to admit that sometimes it wouldn't hurt to have a guy in her life. But she was sure there would be plenty of time for dating after her restaurant was opened and a big success. She was then snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Boi barking. Taylor looked over the table and saw him wagging his tail and jumping up and down, giving her the puppy dog eyes and just begging for a beignet.

"Down, Boi, down. No, no beignets for you tonight," she giggled. But Boi was just so hard to resist sometimes. "Oh, alright. You can have one. Go get it, Boi!" She picked of one of the beignets and threw it across the dance floor; Boi happily chased after it, running by Sharpay looking around the party worriedly in her poofy pink princess dress and some guy dressed as a jester pursing her.

"Buy Sharpay…Sharpay…" the guy said nervously, trying to make eye contact with her constant moving around, "…you said 'later' hours ago."

Sharpay groaned and leaned against the banister. This guy just could not take a hint. There was only one person Sharpay wanted to dance with at the party and that person was the prince. Although this guy was pretty cute, he just wasn't her type. She turned to him and decided to just let him have it straight out and hope that was enough of a message telling him to get lost.

"Peyton, hun, you really should listen," she answered, "I know I'm incredibly hot and irresistible, but there's just nothing there between us. You have to understand that."

"But how do you…?" he started.

"Please don't interrupt, I know this must be very difficult to hear but someone has to say it," Sharpay continued dramatically. "It's best if you just move on and find someone in your league."

"But Sharpay, there is no one else. C'mon, just give me a chance," Peyton pleaded.

There was just no quitting. Sharpay couldn't take it anymore. It was time to turn off her pity act and give it to him straight. "You listen and listen to me good, Peyton Leverett, when a woman says 'later' she's telling you 'not ever'! Now beat it and go find some other fish in the sea. I'm sure there's someone at this party desperate enough to stoop down to your level."

Sharpay watched as Peyton sadly walked away from her. She sighed with relief, content with the fact that her acting skills were so advanced. In five minutes or less she'd gone from flirty to innocent to just plain mad. And now she was about to add another emotion into the mix. Rushing over to Taylor's beignet stand, Sharpay grabbed as many napkins as she could and stuffed them down her dress.

"Give me those napkins, quick!" she yelled to Taylor.

Taylor raised an eyebrow at her friend, who was now ducking behind the banister. "What's going on, Sharpie?"

"You have no idea what this kind of pressure is doing to me, Taylor," she cried. "All these low-life guys chasing after me when all I'm trying to do is find the prince who doesn't wanna show his hot face here yet…. I don't know how much more of this I can take. I swear, I'm sweating like a sinner in church! It's getting so late, Taylor, where is he?"

Taylor shook her head at the overdramatic act Sharpay was putting on. "It's still early, Sharpie. There are plenty of stragglers. And you could be talking about one of those people who like to be fashionably late and have the spotlight on them…" She quickly muttered to herself, "I'm actually talking to one right now. Maybe they are the perfect fit."

Sharpay yelled and threw her hands in the air. "It's just not fair!" she complained, completely tuning Taylor out. "He's never coming! I never get anything I want!" She threw her tiara onto the floor and started running up the stairs towards the door.

Taylor picked up the tiara and chased after her friend. "Sharpie, wait! You're probably blowing all of this out of proportion…" She placed her hand on Sharpay's shoulder, who now had her face buried in her hands. "I'm sure this can all be solved very simply with a little patience. Now all you have to do is take a deep breath and relax…."

Sharpay picked her head up, reveling her tear-strained face. "Maybe I just haven't wished hard enough."

"Well I don't know about that…" Taylor started.

"That's it! I just gotta wish harder!" she exclaimed. Sharpay looked up at a star in the sky, much to Taylor's displeasure. "Please, please, please, please, PLEASE, please, please, please, PLEASE…"

Taylor shook her head, "Sharpie I don't think it's going to work. You can't just wish on a star and expect it to…"

"Ladies and gentleman," a voice boomed through the microphone at the party, "His Royal Highness, Prince Chad Danforth of Italica!"

The voice quickly caught the attention of the girls. They turned their attention to the entrance where they saw none other than Prince Chad making his way over and greeting a few people here and there. Sharpay stared blankly for a moment, almost as though she were just waking up from a dream. Taylor's jaw dropped, questioning how Sharpay's star wishing worked so quickly, let alone even worked at all. She looked up at the star, then down at the prince – who admittedly was pretty good looking – still in disbelief. A smile grew on Sharpay's face as she watched the partygoers bow in the presence of his majesty; that was her man down there they were bowing to and now she wasn't about to let anything get in her way of him. She grabbed her tiara from Taylor and placed it back on her head exactly where it was before she threw it off in a fit. She grabbed one of the napkins out of her bra and quickly wiped the wet mascara from her face and put on her best smile – though not before taking a black sharpie and drawing a little mole on her cheek for some reason. She whistled, cueing the man working the lights, and threw some glitter up in the air before striking her best pose as the spotlight fell on her.

The prince's eyes fell on Sharpay and he slowly approached the banister to greet her, like in some old-fashioned Disney Princess movie. And while most people would have expected Sharpay to slowly descend the stairs with a grace and style that no other girl at the party possessed, she didn't waste any time before jogging down the stairs right to Prince Chad. He bowed to her and she blushed a little before curtseying. She then pulled him into her arms and the two of them began waltzing to a slow song played by the orchestra. Taylor walked down the stairs and slowly past the happy couple back t her beignet stand. She couldn't help but take in Chad's features as she strolled past them. He had this silky deep chocolate kind of skin and a muscular body to match that any woman would love to run her hands over. He had a warm, shining smile that could light up just about any room he walked into. His eyes were a deep brown that matched his skin perfectly that probably melted a girls heart just like his accent – Taylor assumed he had an accent, at least. And his hair…Taylor couldn't take her eyes off it. It wasn't just the quality that made Chad who he was, it was…it was…. Taylor didn't even know how to put it into words. Soft, luscious, curly locks…the way the bangs fell into his face and danced along with him…the way she could imagine running her fingers through those thick curls and holding him close to her…. Taylor shook her head and returned to reality. He was clearly very happy dancing with Sharpay and this was the man of Sharpay's dreams. As cute as he was, Taylor couldn't get in the middle of that. After all she had no idea if he had the personality that matched his looks. It was best to just leave it be.

Sharpay caught sight of Taylor, like the rest of the crowd, watching her and Chad dance under the spotlight. When Chad dipped her, Sharpay looked up at him dreamily. The moment he took his eyes off her, if only for a second, Sharpay smiled widely to Taylor and pointed eagerly at Chad. Taylor smiled and shrugged her shoulders. Yes, she knew what Sharpay was saying. 'Look, Taylor, look! I told you I'd have my prince! See him? Do you see? I'm dancing with Prince Chad of Italica!' Or, at least something along those lines. Taylor continued watching them as contently as she could, swaying to the music in the process. But something felt a bit off. Like she was being watched or something. Taylor raised an eyebrow and looked to her right. No one was there. She continued swaying to the music, but a look of curiosity grew on her face. When she slowly turned towards her left, she gasped and jumped back to see someone in a dragon costume standing beside her and swaying along to the music as well. And judging from the bow atop the dragon's head, it was definitely a girl.

"Evening, Taylor," a giggly voice said from underneath the costume.

Taylor sighed with relief; the voice sounded familiar to her. "Good evening to you, too, Miss Fenner." She paused when she saw a second dragon come up from behind the first…and then a third from behind the second. This shouldn't have been a surprise. "And…Miss Fenner…and Miss Fenner."

Emma, Jackie and Lea removed the dragonheads from their costume so they could talk to Taylor face to face instead of through a costume. Emma spoke up first, "Do you like our outfits, Taylor?"

"They're…very nice," Taylor answered albeit hesitantly. "What made you choose dragon costumes?"

"Well we did think about dressing as a different animal," Jackie started.

"But then we decided, why not all go as the same animal and stand together to look like one?" Lea finished.

The sisters stood together and briefly put their dragonheads back on to prove their point. In seeing the reference, Taylor nodded.

"Oh…a hydra," she observed.

"Clever, right?" Jackie bragged.

"It was my idea," Lea spoke up.

"No, it was mine," Jackie argued.

"I said it first."

"Well I thought it first."

"Girls, girls," Emma interrupted. She pulled off her dragonhead as well as her sisters' before turning back to Taylor. "So, are you having fun tonight?"

Taylor nodded, "It's a very nice party."

"I think it'll be even nicer once we have some of those beignets," Lea said. "They smell delicious."

"Thanks you, Miss Fenner," Taylor beamed offering them each one. "They're going to be the house special once I sign those papers you brought."

The three sisters exchanged nervous glances before slowly looking back at Taylor.

"What's going on?" Taylor inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Look hun, I know you were looking forward to signing those papers. We all were, we were happy to get it off our hands tonight," Emma explained. "But something came up. Something that changes plans. Something like…" She paused and looked to her sisters for help on how to explain the situation. They may have been master retailers, but they were still women – women very in tune with their feelings, at that. So it was often difficult for them to break bad news to one of their customers.

Lea cleared her throat and tried continuing, "See the thing is…what we mean to say is…"

Jackie rolled her eyes. If there was one sister that could rip the bandage off quickly, it was her. And now was the perfect time. "You were outbid, dear," she said before taking another handful of beignets.

Taylor's face fell. "What…?" She couldn't be hearing what she thought she was hearing. How could she have come so close and now be right back to square one?

"It means someone paid more than you," Lea said.

"I'll handle this," Emma scolded her sisters. She looked to Taylor, "Someone else came to our office wanting to same building as you. And he offered the full amount in cash. No waiting, no questions asked. Of course, there is still a waiting period before we finalize the deal with him so you might still have a chance at getting the place. As long as you top his offer by Wednesday."

"Or else you can kiss that place good-bye," Jackie finished with another beignet in her mouth. "Delicious beignets, by the way," she added before walking off.

Emma and Lea were about to follow her before Taylor got in front of them. Maybe she was going to go down like this and maybe this was the universe's way of telling her there was no hope left of getting the place, but she refused to believe it. There was no way she was letting that old building get away from her. If she couldn't buy it then there was no way she could open her restaurant. Sure, there probably was some other building…except she didn't want another building. The one she wanted was for her and her father. It was their dream to have their own restaurant there and Taylor was almost there. Now suddenly she was being told it was taken away from her? Not a chance. There was no way she was going down without a fight.

"You know how long it took me to save that money," she argued.

"We know. It's been years in the making," Lea nodded.

"I'll handle this. You go catch up with Jackie," Emma told her sister. She watched her sister walk away and turned her attention to Taylor one more time – hopefully her last. "We all know how long you've been saving up for that place, Taylor. Clearly it means a lot to you. But don't you think all those years of saving and struggling was trying to tell you something? Listen honey, I know it can be hard. That's why my sisters and I are in the business together. So we never have to struggle or take garbage from anyone. But dear, you've got it so much harder. How can I explain this…? There's just simply no way that a woman of…well…you background…could have handled a place like that even if you did buy it from us tonight. Look at where you are in life now. You have two jobs, a roof over your head, and your whole life ahead of you…. You're better off where you're at. But our offer still stands. If you can come up with more money by Wednesday, come to our office and consider the place yours. Just please, for your own good, don't get your hopes up. You have a good evening, now." She pulled her dragonhead back on and went to follow her sisters.

Taylor shook her head. Was she seriously just being told that she couldn't manage a restaurant because of something stupid like her skin color? Because of her heritage? Because of where she came from? If it was really a good reason for her not to run a restaurant then why were these women even doing business with her in the first place? This was not the end for her; she was not about to let them get away. There was a way around this mess and Taylor was going to find it. She grabbed onto the tail of Emma's costume and tugged on it, trying to get her to stay and keep her attention.

"Hold on a minute…. Don't go anywhere!" she insisted. "We're not done here yet…. I said come back here!"

Though there was some resistance from Emma, Taylor managed to get her to stick around. Taylor was about to open her mouth to speak, not realizing she was still gripping tightly onto the tail. But Lea and Jackie returned for their sister and pulled her away from Taylor and back into the crowd. Taylor tried to keep her hold and talk to them, but she lost her grip and her balance. She fell backwards onto the table with her beignets and collapsed onto the ground, taking the tasty foods with her. She sat up on the ground and ran her fingers through her hair as she tried to process what just happened. She came here assuming that by the night's end she would have her restaurant. She thought she and the Fenner sisters had a deal. She was sure that tonight was the night that everything she went through would end and she could move on with her life, doing the thing she loved more than anything and finally making her and her father's dream come true. But it didn't happen. Just like that, with the snap of a finger and in the blink of an eye everything fell apart. She looked down, not wanting to face anyone, realizing that her dreams had shattered right before her eyes.

"Taylor! Taylor!" Sharpay called happily, approaching her friend. At first she seemed completely oblivious to her friend laying on the floor and covered with punch and beignet crumbs. "I think I've got him now…he can't take his eyes off me! Oh, it's all going perfectly! Now it's time to hit him with some of your famous man-catching beignets…" Her voice faded and she looked at Taylor concerned, slowly coming back to reality. "Tay…what happened?"

Taylor shook her head and sat up again, but she still couldn't bring herself to look anyone in the eye. "N-nothing…" she answered softly, trying to sound like nothing was wrong. "I just…I…"

"Oh, you poor thing," Sharpay sighed, helping her up to her feet. She led Taylor towards the stairs, though taking a moment to look at Chad and call to him, "Oh Prince Chad! I'll be right back, hun! Don't you go anywhere or looking any hotter now!" Once atop the stairs, Sharpay opened the door and took Taylor inside towards her room. "Come on Tay, let's get you cleaned up and out of that mess. I think I've got the perfect outfit for you."

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><p>And so ends another chapter of PaTF! Well that wasn't very happy was it? Dang, that was not what I was going for in making the last possible update before starting school this week. I hope all you guys are doing better than this chapter went. Where to start with this...? Well, obviously Boi was gonna be there. He is Sharpay's and Ryan's dog after all. XD I debated about writing that he was in a Wildcat costume but then I thought, well guess who is wearing that costume instead? Come one, you know it! I didn't write it, but you know it! Of course it was, it was none other than the guy who made everything High School Musical possible making a little cameo in this chapter who was wearing a Wildcat costume! ^_^ As for Taylor's costume, consider it a little shout-out to the previous HSMDisney crossover. And Sharpay...oooh, Sharpay. For all you guys who enjoyed the Sharpay/Peyton (otherwise, I believe, known as PeyPey) paring in this chapter, a little something for you guys. And for all you diehard Zekepay fans...that's what the rejection of Peyton was for! :) As for the little dialogue between Gabriella and Taylor in the beginning, it was reminiscent of one of the deleted scenes which was not in the movie because it seemed too repetitive from the Almost There scene...which is why it was kept short and sweet here. And yes, I just had to add in a little action of Taylor checking Chad out, cause we all know that he's obviously Chad and not anyone else...I mean, obviously good looking. Not that he is anyone else, he is just there dancing with Sharpay in all of his good-looking-ness. 0=) So I don't know yet when the next update is going to be, but I would definitely like to have at least another chapter up before my birthday next month. I was gonna shoot for writing the next chapter tomorrow, but considering I have a ton of supplies to buy for one of my classes and probably some other stuff I need to do that I forgot about, that's just pushing it. So if anyone wants to give me a little reminder about my promise of the next update, feel free to send me an angry PM...or a smiley face. Smiley faces are good too. XD And thank you once again to everyone who is sticking around to read this story and I hope you all are enjoying it! =3


	7. One Kiss

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING**

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><p>"Oh Tay, did you see the way he danced with me? We were so connecting! I can totally picture us dancing like that at his castle every night. And did you see the way he looked at me? And his smile…. It all makes so much sense. We are absolutely perfect for each other! A marriage proposal can't be far behind! THANK YOU, EVENING STAR!"<p>

It had barely been ten minutes since Sharpay brought Taylor up to her room so she could change out of her stained costume and in those ten minutes or less there hadn't been a sentence out of the blonde's mouth that didn't have to do with Chad. As annoying as it would have been to anyone else, perhaps Sharpay's constant yapping was the best thing Taylor heard all night. It was certainly getting her mind off of the horrible news the Fenner sisters had given her. Still, nothing could cover up the heartbroken look Taylor dawned upon her emerging from the closet in her princess costume. It may have been the most gorgeous baby blue gown Taylor had ever laid her eyes on but she still felt destroyed inside. She pulled her hair into a bun and adjusted the satin white gloves on her hands before leaning against the headboard of Sharpay's queen-sized bed.

"You know," Sharpay continued, barely paying attention to Taylor while she put some fresh blush on her cheeks and applied some mascara, "I was starting to think that wishing on stars was just for babies and crazy people. I guess there's always one exception to that rule, isn't there?" Sharpay moved some bangs out of her face and looked into her mirror to see how her makeup looked; she became completely taken aback when she noticed Taylor by her bedside in the background. She had never seen her friend look more beautiful. Yet Sharpay remained completely oblivious to Taylor's sad face. "Oh my gosh…Tay! You look about as beautiful as a magnolia in May. It seems like just yesterday we were little girls, dreaming our fairy tale dreams…and now they're finally coming true." She took one of the tiaras off her nightstand and gently placed it on Taylor's head, adjusting it appropriately so it looked perfect. She admired her friend for a moment before going back to her boy-crazy self. "Well, back into the fray!" Sharpay declared, fixing her dress so it showed just enough cleavage. "That prince is gonna eat me up tonight! Wish me luck, Tay!" Not another second was wasted before Sharpay eagerly ran out of her room and headed back down to the party, calling for Chad.

Unfortunately, thinking about how happy her friend was going to be with the prince didn't make Taylor feel any better. Sharpay's dreams may have been coming true tonight but Taylor's were ripped from right under her nose. The most she could do at this point was be happy for her friend; but right now Taylor just wanted to be alone with her thoughts. Her brown eyes fell onto the stained costume, which had been thrown onto Sharpay's bed. Still sticking out from the pocket, luckily completely untouched, was the magazine clipping of the restaurant. Taylor gently pulled it out and unfolded it, daydreaming about the place that she would never have. The dream had been nice while it lasted and now it was time to wake up. Taylor clutched the paper in her hands and wandered out onto the balcony, staring up at the evening sky while singing softly yet sadly to herself.

"_Almost_

_Almost there_

_People would've come from everywhere_

_I was almost…there"_

It was then that Taylor took notice of a single shining star in the night sky. She remembered wishing on stars when she was younger, thinking that wishing alone would be able to make her dreams come true; then her father would say that she needed to help the star along and work hard for her dreams. What good would wishing do now? Surely it couldn't work as easily as it did for Sharpay. Sharpay only wished for Chad to show up and seconds later there he was, looking all handsome and princey just for her. There was no way the same thing would be true for Taylor. Would she really just be able to wish for her restaurant to be hers and suddenly the Fenner sisters would run up to her saying the other guy wasn't interested anymore and the place was all Taylor's? It wasn't possible. Taylor looked away and bit her nail. There was no way this could really work…could it? But it never hurt to try either. Not willing to admit that she was really stooping this low, Taylor tried to convince herself otherwise.

"I cannot believe I'm about to do this…" she muttered. Then, clutching the magazine clipping close to her heart, she looked up at the star and then closed her eyes. "Please, please, please, please…" she whispered. Taylor remained still and silent for a minute, and then slowly opened her eyes. Nothing happened. This should not have come as a surprise to her. So much for wishing. She let out a sigh. Then, from the corner of her eye, just like when she was little and wishing on stars, there was a frog staring at her. Taylor rolled her eyes. "Very funny," she mumbled sarcastically. She shook her head and glanced at the frog. "So what now? I reckon you want a kiss?"

The frog grinned and shrugged his shoulders. While Taylor was expecting a ribbit, something completely different came out of his mouth. "Kissing would be nice, yes?"

Taylor screamed and backed away into the room and right into a dresser of stuffed animals. The toys collapsed off the shelves and on top of Taylor, knocking her down, while the dresser shook a little before knocking off one of the lights and darkening the bedroom.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I apologize!" the frog gasped in a faint Italian accent, hopping into the room. He watched Taylor sit up from under the pile of stuffed animals and stare almost blankly at him. The frog continued, "I did not mean to scare you! I was only trying to…" He jumped to the side, caught off guard when a teddy bear came flying towards him, followed by a brush and then a couple of dolls. "Wait…no, stop…please princess…" He was barely able to dodge a second teddy bear before leaning up against it and smirking playfully. "You know, you have a very strong arm for a princess." He then ducked under the bear and used it for a shield from another toy. When it was safe to show his face again, he pointed one of the bear's legs at Taylor. "Alright, that's enough already! Put the monkey down!" Seconds later the stuffed monkey smacked him right in the kisser, knocking him down.

Taylor stood up from under the remaining stuffed animals, holding up one of Sharpay's few books as a defense. "Stay back or I'll…" she warned.

"Let me try this again," the frog interrupted, hopping onto the vanity so he could be closer to Taylor's height. "Please let me finish. Now, allow me to introduce myself. I am Prince Chad Danforth…"

_SMACK!_

Taylor slammed the book right onto the 'prince', flattening him solid.

"…of Italica," he finished in a weak voice.

"Prince…?" Taylor repeated.

"Yes…prince of Italica," he answered. He then went about trying to stand up and get himself together while Taylor shook her head in disbelief.

"I did not wish for any prince. There is no way this is happening. I'm dreaming," she insisted. Then something crossed her mind that was as disturbing as communicating with a talking frog prince. "But…but if _you're_ the prince, then who the heck is that downstairs dancing with Sharpie?"

Chad sighed and shook his head. "Look, I'm just a simple man. I cannot help you."

"Yeah, sure. Simple man my butt," Taylor argued.

Chad rolled his eyes, "Look all I know is that one moment I am a prince." He even started doing a few dance moves to prove his point. "See, a prince. Charming and handsome. Cutting the rug. Winning over a few girls. And then the next thing I know…" he slipped and fell flat on his behind. "I am tripping over these," he lifted one of his webbed feet.

Taylor scowled. Whether this was some sick twisted dream or not, she was having enough of it. She lifted the book to hit him once more.

Chad curled up in a ball, trying to protect himself from another onslaught. He peered from in between his webbed arms and took notice of the title. "Wait a minute, I know this story!" he gasped, his eyes lighting up. "La Rana Principe!"

"The Frog Prince?" Taylor asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Chad cheered. He signaled Taylor to put the book down, to which point Chad began flipping through the pages. "My mother had the servants read this to me every night. Quite genius, let me tell you. She was not a very good storyteller." His eyes widened as he flipped between the two pages where the princess leaned in to kiss the frog and when the frog became a prince. "Yes…yes…. Yes! This is exactly the answer!" He turned to Taylor and finished with his most debonair smile, "You must kiss me."

Taylor placed her hand on her hip, "Excuse me?"

"You will enjoy it, I can promise you that," he grinned. "All women enjoy the kiss of Prince Chad. It is true; I have not heard one complaint yet. Now come, we pucker." He puckered up his lips to kiss her but as quickly as he did, he let out a ribbit – and the chest popping that came with it. He hesitated for a moment but ultimately kept his cool when adding, "That's new."

"Listen, I'd like to help. It's just that…" Taylor started, but couldn't figure out a way to finish. Sure, if this guy really were the prince then when he'd become human again he'd have the looks, which Taylor did not mind at all. On the other hand, Chad was everything that she hated. He was arrogant, selfish, conceited…why should she even help him? Though Taylor wanted to tell him what a jerk he seemed to be, she couldn't bring herself to. He didn't deserve such a detailed answer, in her opinion. She turned away from him and folded her arms, coming up with the simplest and flattest answer she could think of, "I do not kiss frogs."

"But…on the balcony," Chad responded, "you asked me for help."

Taylor groaned and turned back to him. "Well I didn't expect you to answer!"

"Alright, alright, I think I know what will win you over," he said with a smile. "Besides being incredibly handsome…trust me, I'm a looker…I also happen to come from an insanely wealthy family. I mean, why wouldn't I? I am the prince, after all. So surely there must be something I could offer you in return with all my money. A wish I could grant, perhaps? Something that you would like?"

Taylor glanced to her magazine clipping on the floor. It was awfully tempting; He definitely came off as a wealthy and confident frog – rather, man. If he wanted to be human again as badly as he said he did then Taylor would have to be rewarded in some way. If she could get the money form Chad for her restaurant then she could get the building form the Fenner Sisters with no questions asked and be on her way to finally making her dream come true. She looked at Chad again, who was already spraying some perfume into his mouth for fresh mint breath. Taylor bit her nails and contemplated her decision.

"Just…one kiss?" she asked, though a bit hesitantly.

"Just one. Unless you beg for more," the frog grinned.

Taylor gulped and watched him lick his lips. It was disgusting. She slowly leaned in towards him, his lips already puckered as far as they could go. Taylor shut her eyes tight, hoping it was all a dream. She opened one of her eyes slightly, just enough to see his froggy lips. She shrieked and backed away, snapping Chad out of the moment. She attempted to talk herself through it. Taylor didn't want to kiss some frog prince, especially one like Chad. But it was the only way left for her to get her restaurant. Chad sure didn't seem to mind waiting for her decision that was for sure. His lips remained confidently puckered while Taylor whispered to herself, almost arguing if she was doing the right thing. It took a bit more convincing from her, but there was clearly no other choice. She had to kiss the frog. Not because he was probably really cute. Not because of his hot Italian accent. Not because of anything to do with how much she hated him right now. It was because of her restaurant. And if she was going to have to waste a kiss on that guy, then so be it.

Taylor shut her eyes tight once more, and in one quick swoop with no more hesitation she turned around and kissed him hard on the lips. One kiss…no matter how weird, gross, or by some off chance, nice it may have been one kiss had better be all it takes.

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><p>Well I said I'd have something up by my birthday and...I was sort of right. It's up on my birthday and uploaded literally one minute before I was born technically then making it my birthday. So as far as uploading it I kept the deal about the next chapter being up! As far as posting it and making it official for you guys to hopefully read and enjoy, that's being put off by at least five extra minutes because I'm typing this down here. and no, I did not cut this chapter off at the kiss just to make the deadline...I just thought it would leave more suspense. 0=) I really wish I could put up more chapters quicker, especially when there are so many other fanfics I wanna write. But I'm not joking, I got a bleep-load of work. Yes, most of it is art but no it is not easy. So any stereotypes of art majors having it easy, forget you ever heard anything about those. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter and my goal for the next one is around Spring Break (which is in midMarch). But if it tuns out to be a really short chapter and I can get it done quickly, that'll be even better. So I thank anyone who is still reading this for all your patience and being diehard Chaylor fans enough to stick through all the waiting! I know I do with the few Chaylor stories left around here. XD And for those of you who celebrate today, Happy V-Day! And for those of you like me who either hate it or have better things to do, Happy Normal Day Day! :D<p> 


	8. Crash the Party

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own High School Musical or Princess and the Frog.**

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><p>This was it. After one whole day of being a frog, Chad was finally able to be human again! He could see himself now – dark cocoa skin, luscious dark curls, a smile that'd make the ladies faint…. Boy did it feel good to be human! Now he could strut down to the party and expose that liar for who he really was. Because this was the real Prince Chad Danforth of….<p>

Frogdom. He ran his hands down his sides and he did not feel skin. His eyes opened and he looked at his hands. They were still webbed feet. His body was still green. He was still short. Chad's face fell. Some kiss that turned out to be. Well, it was a nice kiss and all…. But it didn't break the spell. Boy, was he going to give this girl a piece of his mind.

"Well look what you did! Some princess you are, cannot even turn a frog back into a prince! Wait until we find a real one to…." Chad cut himself off. The girl wasn't in front of him anymore. Where'd she go? "Erm…. Princess?" Chad asked, albeit hesitantly. He peered around Sharpay's room, but there was no one to be seen. The frog raised an eyebrow, wondering where she ran off to so quickly. Was the kiss that bad? He'd be darned if any girl found his kisses sickening before. Chad scoffed and moved to the edge of the vanity so he could hop off. But when he looked over the edge, he couldn't believe his eyes. "_Nessun modo…._" He gasped to himself.

Below the vanity was Taylor's dress, just flat on the floor. No girl to be seen or anything. But then, there was something wiggling underneath the outfit. Chad's jaw dropped when he saw who – or what – emerged.

Taylor sat up and rubbed her head, certain of herself that this was still a dream. When she looked up and saw Chad on the vanity still as a frog, she sighed. So much for wishful thinking. "You don't look that much different," she observed. "But how did you get all the way up there? And how did I get down here…?"

She couldn't even finish her statement. Turning to her side, where a mirror sat in front of her, she saw an image she never expected to see. In the reflection, right before Taylor's very eyes, was a frog. Taylor blinked, a bit in disbelief. She watched the image of herself and stepped, or rather hopped, closer to it. The reflection did the exact same thing. Screaming, Taylor jumped right onto the vanity and stood in front of Chad in a panic.

Chad jerked back, unsure of how to calm down a woman in such a fit. "East, easy princess…."

"What did you do to me?" Taylor demanded. "I…I'm green…and I'm slimy…"

"No, no," Chad shook his head. He got to his hind legs and stepped over to Taylor, taking her hand off her body.

"What?" Taylor paused.

"It is not slime," Chad chuckled. "You are secreting mucus."

"You…you…WHAT?" Taylor demanded. She held up her hands in a fit of rage, squeezing her fingers like they were going in and out of a fist.

Chad chuckled nervously for a moment, "You know, with the way you are looking right now you seem like you want to strangle something. What exactly…has the air done to you to make you so angry?"

"Not. Air." Taylor gritted her teeth.

Chad's face fell instantly. "Oh."

In a split second, Taylor's hands collided with his neck and Chad tried to push her off. Instead they both tumbled off the vanity, onto the chair, then on a rocking horse.

"Now, now…" Chad breathed, "you don't really want to hurt me..."

"Oh yes I do!" Taylor huffed. "I'm going to kick your-"

Chad weakly pointed upwards, "I think that book might do your job for you."

Taylor blinked and turned around. Swinging back and forth on one of the few shelves above them was a book. The frogs gasped and shook their heads, begging the book to remain where it was. Surely if it fell, they would be crushed. Naturally, the book fell right off the edge of the shelf; the frogs screamed in fear. But instead of getting squashed, the book hit the rocking horse and sent the two threw the window like a catapult. They landed onto a set of drums with a thump. The next thing they knew, they were spotted by the drummer and were getting chased by his drumsticks. As the slow speed of the percussion quickly escalated into a more hip-hop, or more likely, jazz style, the guests smiled and began picking up the pace of the dancing. The rest of the orchestra decided to go with it and began speeding up their sound to match.

As for the frogs, they weren't so lucky. While Taylor was dodging the drumstick pretty decently, Chad had resorted to curling up in a ball on one of the drums. The stick collided with his behind, knocking him into Taylor and sending the two of them flying – right towards Sharpay and down her back. Instantly feeling something slimy, which often for her meant gross, on her back she started hopping around like a maniac. People nearby stared at Sharpay, wondering what kind of new dance she was doing. Her dress swung back and forth, her hair was falling out of its perfect place, and to add insult to injury, all the jumping caused one of her heels to break. Sharpay lost her balance and fell face first with her feet sticking up. Chad and Taylor made it out of her dress, able to take only a second to rest on Sharpay's feet. As Sharpay struggled to move her poofy dress out of the way to see what was going on, the fake Prince Chad turned to her direction with two cups of punch. His jaw dropped and the glasses fell right to the ground. He gasped to himself, things turning out much worse than he expected. And things were about to get worse; as soon as Sharpay moved just enough of her dress to see two icky frogs on top of her, she let out a blood-curdling scream. Everyone knew when Sharpay Evans screamed, it was bad. Really bad.

The second Ryan heard his sister, he immediately sprung into action. "BOI!" he yelled.

The dog poked his head up form behind the table where he'd been munching on the beignets that had fallen on the floor.

"Get those frogs!" Ryan insisted.

Boi began barking and headed right for Sharpay. Taylor screamed and Chad grabbed her hand.

"Run!" he yelled.

"I can't run!" Taylor responded.

"Then hop!" Chad replied as they struggled to get onto the table. They hopped right past the fake Chad with Boi right on their tail, the fraud still watching in disbelief.

"Down boy, down!" Chad begged as he and Taylor ran. They didn't get very fat, only the table cloth underneath them moving. Luckily it didn't mean Boi was getting any closer, either. "Down, monster dog!" Chad yelled again. At that point, the last of the tablecloth had slid underneath them. Now there was only food in their way. And a whole lot of people. It was just one mishap after another. After jumping over a couple of cupcakes, Chad and Taylor were met with a sword from someone dressed like Zorro. The sword had just barely missed and instead chopped off the head of the giraffe costume next to him. The head then fell on top of the frogs, causing them to have no idea where to go.

"I cannot see!" Chad exclaimed.

"Keep going straight!" Taylor urged him.

"Where's that?" Chad cried.

Taylor groaned and took the lead; she turned so she was in front of Chad – or at least as ahead as she could be in such a small head – and ran straight down the table. The ended up sliding under a kissing couple, causing the head to slap them as they got back to their feet. The couple was then met with Boi crashing into them. They fell onto the table and Boi just panted and wagged his tail. He licked each of the guests, but was snapped out of it when he heard Ryan's voice again. Barking, he jumped back to his feet and continued the chase.

"Do you know where we're going?" Chad gasped.

"Not really!" Taylor replied.

"Well then tell people to get out of the way!"

"You're the prince, you tell them!"

They argued as they ran past a man in an Ursula costume with a shot of wine in each tentacle. He stared drunkenly at the frogs, almost certain he'd heard them arguing. And when he saw Boi stumble past him with the tail of the mermaid, head of Captain Jack Sparrow, and what looked like Pegasus wings, he dumped the glasses right onto the floor.

"Are people out of the way yet?" Chad asked as they continued running.

As soon as the question escaped his mouth, the top of the head got caught in some low-hanging lights. Taylor and Chad tumbled out of it and rolled straight down the table, into a string of balloons. They sat up, dizzy, but they had to come back to reality fast. Their feet were caught in the balloon strings and Boi was ganging up on them. Chad shrieked and struggled to get his let out as Boi prepared to pounce. Taylor, on the other hand, though attempting to get her leg loose as well tried to communicate with the hyper dog.

"Boi, no! Boi, stop! It's me, Taylor!" she yelled just s the balloons got loose and she and Chad began floating away.

Boi's jaw dropped just as he jumped after them; he mouth was only centimeters away from grabbing them when he spoke, his voice resembling that of Keith David. "Taylor?" Watching the two float away blankly, he wagged his tail and paid no attention as he fell back onto one of the other tables. Like a seesaw, the cake on the other end of the table jumped up and smashed right into the Fenner Sisters.

Taylor just shook her leg out of the string and held tightly onto the balloons. She looked up at Chad, who already had a strong grip on them. "Boi just talked to me…" she breathed in disbelief, "human words…the dog…he just talked to me!"

Chad rolled his eyes, "You know, Princess, if you are going to let everything bother you, it's going to be a very long night!"

"Stop calling me that! It's Taylor!" she corrected angrily. "And I have every right to freak out over every little thing!"

"Why must all women be this way?"

"Maybe because guys like you make us this way!"

"Do not make me kick you off this balloon!"

"You don't have the guts!"

"I liked you better in that giraffe!"

Their arguing faded as they floated into the distance. And while no one else seemed to pay attention and focused more on the food, damages, and most importantly Sharpay, there was one woman eyeing them with disgust…. Cruella DeVille?

The fake Chad dashed to the guesthouse out back and wasted no time before opening the cabinet, only to find an empty jar. "Oh no…oh no…" he breathed. He couldn't believe it. He had barely touched the jar; his best friend had been in there, he couldn't let him suffocate. He had no ide it'd cause the prince to escape. When Tiara found out about this….

"You let the frog get away?" a British voice exclaimed.

The fake prince yelped and backed away, coming face to face with Cruella DeVille. "You're so quiet…." He stuttered.

The woman removed her costume to reveal that she was Tiara; she had disguised herself and was spying on the fake prince during the party the whole time. Not to mention there were others she was watching as well.

"How could you let the frog prince go? Do you know what we just lost?" she demanded.

The fake prince backed away as Tiara stepped closer to him. He shook as he struggled to explain himself. "He was…you know, just gasping for air. So I thought I'd loosen the lid. Just a little…nothing too bad or anything, right…?" The next thing he knew, he was on the ground. He rubbed his head and turned around, seeing Tiara's shadow standing behind him. He stared at it in disbelief. Tiara's shadow was an entity all its own; it could control itself at will without Tiara needing to do anything. So it had left Tiara's side and took the shape of something to trip the fake Chad, which had been successful. The shadow laughed and returned to Tiara. The fake Chad shook his head and grabbed the amulet around his neck. "How did I even get mixed up in all this voodoo madness? I can't take it anymore! I don't want anything to do with it. I quit!"

The second the necklace lost contact with his body, the fake Chad reverted into the shape of Troy. He wobbled a little, needing to take a moment to regain his balance after being in a different body all day. When he came to, he looked at Tiara and tossed the amulet behind her.

"You like jewelry so much. You wear this thing!" he insisted.

Tiara gasped and made a quick move to catch the amulet, seconds before it hit the ground. She immediately turned to Troy, infuriated. "Do you have any idea what you could have done, you idiot? I swear, if anything happens to this amulet I'm going to…" She cut herself off when she saw Troy cower in fear. She smirked; Tiara hadn't expected this to be so easy. Troy was so clueless on how to deal with anyone outside his own country, let alone someone with higher authority than him aside from Chad, that he was freaking out already. Tiara was going to have fun with this. "Interesting tidbit about magic, my friend," she stated slipping the necklace around her. Nothing happened. "It doesn't work on me. And I think you and I both know that magic isn't the most powerful thing in the world. It's money!"

To demonstrate her point, she gestured towards a picture of Ryan standing in front of his mansion with a brand-new car. Troy paused for a minute, thinking it over.

"Well, money is pretty powerful…"

"Loads of it?"

"Sounds about right."

"How about buckets of it?"

"That is true."

"And who, pray tell, has all of this money and power?"

Troy shrugged his shoulders, "The rich?"

"Exactly. The rich like that bloody bloke Ryan Evans and your so-called Prince Chad," Tiara scoffed. "They get rich off of the silliest things and make money for doing nothing except sit on their rumps sipping their fancy cups of tea and chatting it up with the royals and what do they do for the people who work so hard for them? Earn money in the most embarrassing ways possible and have to live in bloody conditions while they get all the good stuff for themselves. Aren't you tired of that, Troy? Tired of doing all that work for your princely friend without getting much in return but a sideways glance?"

Troy had to think it over for a minute. Living conditions in Italica were mixed; some were better than others. But like most countries, the richer you were the fancier you could live. Troy could live about as fancy as Chad and his family but it came with a price. Waiting on Chad hand and foot. Doing every little thing Chad told him to do. Having to stoop to low level like entertaining Chad by juggling on a unicycle with some bear chasing after him or having to be the one to brush those thick curls of his. And Chad would get so full of himself that he thought he'd have to do nothing, and every time he had to do the smallest chore he would get Troy to do it on his behalf. What did Troy get in return for doing all that? A pretty good place to live, sure. But never so much as a Thank You.

"Yes. I am," he finally answered.

"See?" Tiara grinned. She led Chad to a mirror and slipped the amulet back around his neck while he gazed at himself in the mirror. "So if you want to start living the good life, just like I do, we can work together and both get what we want. It's not even much that you have to do, really. Just marry that little brat Sharpay Evans and her brother's fortune will be all yours. Then, since we both played a part in this, I get my fair share of course. We'll be splitting that money right down the middle faster than you can say 'Chip, chip, cheerio'." She then cleared her throat and mumbled to herself, "Sixty/forty, like I said."

Troy rubbed his chin and nodded. He had to admit, he could pull off Chad pretty well. He sure made the prince look better, he could say that much. But if he was really going to win Sharpay over then all he had to do was act like some stuck-up spoiled brat. Chad and Sharpay would be a pretty good fit, actually, they were virtually the same person. Troy made a face running his hands through the fake curls; as soon as this wedding was all said and done with, this hair was getting chopped off. But there was still one thing bothering him.

"So then, what do we do about Chad?" he inquired.

Tiara hit him over the head with her Cruella pocketbook. "Your little slip-up will be nothing more than a minor bump in the road. As long as we've got the prince's blood in our amulet, we will be swimming in pools of money in no time."

Tiara's plan was already put into motion. She'd take care of finding Chad. But for the time being, they had plenty of Chad's DNA in the amulet to keep the scheme going. She had Troy following her beck and call; he was eating out of the palm of her hand. Her evil plan was already revealed. She had her magic. She had her accomplish. All she needed now was her evil laugh.

Because no evil plan would be complete without an evil laugh.

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><p>Sooooo how long has it been since I updated this story? Too long, I'm guessing. So if anyone is still interested in this story or reading it at all, please let me know. You know, a little review or something just so I know to keep it going? Just saying. Anywho, this was actually going to be two separate chapters. But I figured since I haven't updated in so long it made sense to make it all one chapter. And I put a lot of Disney references in here, as you can tell. Captain Jack Sparrow? Mermaid? Pegasus? Giraffe? Ok, maybe the giraffe is way more subtle than the others, but the giraffe was there to begin with and it worked. Just having some fun. I was also having some fun typing the argument between Chad and Taylor. There wasn't nearly as much going on in these scenes with Tiana and Naveen, but it's Chad and Taylor we're talking about. The arguing brings them closer together. And like I said, it's fun. Also, there is another reference to Princess and the Frog in here. Hint - a voice actor. Another hint - Tiara's costume. Reference. Little Disney reference, little of the Doctor Facilier reference. Anyway, I really hope all of you reading enjoyed this chapter. I will be back again for more Chaylor stories, and of course, to read all the other Chaylor stories out there.<p> 


	9. Enter the Swamp

Disclaimer: I don't own HSM or Princess and the Frog.

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><p>Rain continued to pour down as Taylor and Chad floated over the swampy areas of New Orleans. They were a good hour or so away by now but the travel wasn't exactly doing anything to help them get along. After their arguing from the party had died down Taylor began to question Chad the real story behind him becoming a frog; it was all too vague for her taste. At first Chad wasn't willing to talk. But considering he was kind of stuck with her for a while, he had no choice but to share how Tiara tricked him.<p>

"Voo-doo?" Taylor gasped as soon as he finished. "You mean to tell me we're in this situation because of some Shadow Woman?" This guy was dumber than she initially thought!

"Do not blame me," Chad argued. "She was very charismatic!"

Taylor groaned. "I deserve this, I suppose. I should have known better than to wish on stars. Things aren't just handed to a person like that…except Sharpie. The only way to get anything in this world is through hard work!"

"Hard work?" Chad inquired. "Why would a princess need hard work?"

"What? Oh no, I'm not a princess. I'm a waitress," Taylor explained.

That did not go over well with Chad. "A WAITRESS?" he exclaimed. "Well no wonder the kiss did not work! You lied to me!"

Taylor shook her head. "I never said I was a princess."

"You never told me you were a waitress, of all things!" he replied. "You were wearing a crown! Crowns imply princesses!"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "It was a costume party, you selfish little rich boy!"

"Oh yeah? You wanna play that way?" he retorted. "Well then the egg is on your face because my parents cut me off!"

"What?" Taylor's eyes widened.

"I'm completely broke!" Chad declared with a laugh. "What do you think of that now, Waitress?"

_Pop!_

"Wait, what was that?" Chad asked quickly.

The two of them looked up. Apparently Chad wasn't the only thing that was broke. The balloons had come in contact with some sharp tree branches. One by one the balloons quickly popped. When the last one was gone Taylor and Chad went plummeting towards the swamp. It was a long drop and they hit various webs, branches and leaves before splashing into the water beneath them. The balloons remains followed them, floating above the water. Chad was the first to resurface; he caught his breath quickly but was almost thrown back in when Taylor emerged from underneath him.

"You said you were fabulously wealthy!" she yelled, throwing some moss at him.

"No, my parents are fabulously wealthy," Chad corrected. "They cut me off for being a le-" He cut himself off when he lifted his arm. He screamed and his eyes widened when he saw a leach on there. He began frantically swinging his arm around in hopes of getting it off. "LEACH!"

Taylor easily pulled the leach off and angrily pointed at him. "So _you're_ broke and had the balls to call _me _a liar?" she demanded. She threw the leach behind her, which was quickly caught in the mouth of a flipping fish. Taylor and Chad freaked out and ran away from the fish as fast as they could. They jumped onto the shore, Taylor ending on top of Chad.

"It was not a lie! I fully intend on getting-" Once again Chad was cut off. He looked up and saw a bird right on top of both of them. He pushed Taylor off of him and they ran across the rocky surface of the swamp while trying to avoid the bird pecking their brains out. Taylor ran while Chad hopped next to her, attempting to explain. "I fully intend to get rich again. Once I marry your friend Miss Sharpay Evans."

"You're a prince?" Taylor asked.

"Obviously," Chad rolled his eyes.

"She'll have you," she answered as-a-matter-of-factly.

They were then shocked upon losing their balance and tumbling off a small cliff. The frogs flipped through the air. Luckily the bird had also lost its footing upon chasing them, having been too stupid to fly in the first place, and ended up falling nowhere near them. Taylor and Chad crashed onto a log in the middle of a deeper end of the swap. Taylor clutched her stomach while Chad's head met with the hard surface. Taylor took a moment to regain her posture before questioning Chad again.

"Alright, so you want to marry Sharpie, fine. But once you two are wed are you finally going to go through with your promise and get me my restaurant?"

Chad sat up, "Not so fast. I made that promise to a beautiful princess, not a cranky waitress." Fine, Chad would admit that he did think in human form Taylor was pretty good-looking. But still, she was nothing compared to a princess. After all she lied to him so why should he bother to get her anything? It wasn't like he owed her. Chad would have continued with his rant had it not been for something catching his eye across the swamp, a couple of eyes heading their way. "Why are those logs moving…?"

Taylor looked in the same direction and saw them moving. She then averted her gaze around the swamp and saw more of them coming form ever direction. "I've got news for you…those aren't logs."

Things began looking even worse when the log they were on wiggled. Chad and Taylor jumped, turning to see a face emerging from the water. It had to have been the largest alligator either of them had ever seen. And he had to have had the deepest voice they ever heard.

"Well, well, boys looks like we got ourselves some dinner for the night!" the alligator hissed.

"No, no…" Chad panicked, "you do not want to eat us. We're just frogs. Look at us; we're all mucus and bones. Very poor for your diet. But if you really must insist," He paused and pushed Taylor in front of him, "eat the girl first."

"What?!" Taylor exclaimed with wide eyes.

The alligator only laughed. "I got dibs on the big one!"

"He's talking about you," Taylor told Chad quickly.

Barely before getting a chance to react, the big gator snapped at his back and the rest of the alligators began attacking. Chad and Taylor jumped off his back and dove into the water. Taylor went as deep beneath the surface as she could, hoping to not get noticed. She attempted to swim like a human, but her long frog legs were proving to make it difficult. She paused watching another frog swim by, then attempted to mimic its movements. She got the hang of it fairly quickly, swimming under a small branch and through some grass. She then dug her way through a tree trunk and climbed to the top of it. She poked her head out where she could see the gators in the middle of the swamp attacking each other, constantly questioning where the frogs went.

"Where'd he go?"

"I thought I saw em there!"

"Ow! That's my tail!"

"He couldn't have gotten too far!"

"Keep lookin!"

Taylor watched quietly, holding her breath. She was unsure as to why, but for some reason she was hoping that they didn't find Chad. And with the argument the alligators were having with each other and noticing they were only snapping water, air and each other it didn't seem likely they found Chad. Lightning struck through the sky and rain began pouring down harder.

"Pst. Pssssst."

Taylor looked around from her hiding spot, trying to decipher where the sound was coming from. She looked down and sighed with relief when she saw Chad. "There you are! Where were you?"

"Worried, much?" Chad inquired quietly, hoping to not get noticed by the gators.

"No I wasn't!" she insisted.

"I don't know, you sounded pretty worried to me."

"Mind your own business!"

"This is my business!"

"Oh, that's right. I forgot, you got us into this mess."

"I told you, she was very charismatic! Now will you please help me into the tree before they come back?"

"No! Find your own tree!"

Another flash of lightning. In the darkness of the swamp, the lightning made it far easier for the gators to spot Chad.

"There he is!"

"I seem em!"

"Let's get em!"

"I'm hungry!"

The gators slowly approached Chad, waiting for the ideal opportunity to attack.

Chad was on the verge of freaking out now. Clearly there was only one way out of this. "Alright, alright," he caved, "help me get out of this swamp and once I marry Sharpay, I shall get you your restaurant."

"Promise?" Taylor raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, yes, I promise! Now please help me out of here!" Chad begged.

Taylor had to admit, it was pretty good to hear him beg. She'd have to remember that the next time he got them into a situation like this. She glanced to see how far away the gators were; there was still some distance but they were getting closer.

"Man you are gonna taste so good!" one of the gators licked his lips.

"Waitress, hurry!" Chad begged again.

"Two conditions," she decided.

"Yes, yes, fine! What are they?"

"First, stop calling me Waitress. It's Taylor."

"Ok. Yes. Fine. Taylor. Whatever. Next?"

Taylor smirked. "You have to say that Taylor is the best chef in New Orleans and will be the best chef in the entire world and that you, Prince Chad, are a wimpy frog who can't handle himself and is nothing without his hair."

"Oh, you noticed the fake me had pretty good hair," he grinned. "I assure you, the hair on me looks way better."

"Dinner time!" one of the gators declared, snapping Chad out of it.

"Better hurry…" Taylor told him innocently.

"Fine, fine! Taylor is the best chef in New Orleans and will be the best chef in the entire world and I am just a wimpy frog who can't handle myself and am nothing without my hair!" he said quickly.

Almost immediately after those words left his mouth, the gators pounced and Taylor let down a vine from the tree to help him up. Chad frantically climbed up as fast as he could, though the gators had come pretty dang close to catching him. It was amazing how much work Chad could do when he was pushed to his limit; Taylor barely had to lift a finger except to hold the vine while he climbed up. Upon reaching the top, Chad lost his footing and collapsed on top of Taylor, sending the both of them to the bottom of the log.

"You can hop buchya can't hide," one gator laughed.

"Actually, he just did," another one corrected.

"Let em hide all they want, boys," the first gator grinned. "We got all night."

"Well, Waitress Taylor, it looked like we are going to be here for a while," Chad grinned from inside the log. "So we might as well get cozy…"

The second he tried to make a move on her, Taylor slapped him across the face. "Get your slimy self away from me!"

"I told you, it is not slime! It's mucus!"

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><p>It was a pretty short chapter, I know. I kind of wrote it on a whim today. Plus I really, really wish there was more Chaylor around so i had to do something. And as you can tell i added a bit of extra dialogue between Chad and Taylor here to add some humor. And maybe a little more tension. Writing arguments between them is kinda fun, in my opinion. Anyway i was considering naming at least one of the alligators but then i decided, Nah there's probably gonna be other references later in the story and for such a short appearance and with some babbling between them it really didn't make sense to name any of them. No sure when the next update is gonna be yet, but i promise that there will eventually be one!<p> 


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